….the erroneous belief that there are purely economic ends separate from the other ends of life. Yet, apart fro the pathological case of the miser, there is no such thing. The ultimate ends of the activities of reasonable beings are never economic. Strictly speaking, there is no “economic motive”………If we strive for money, it is because it offers us the widest choice in enjoying the fruits of our efforts……money is one of the greatest instruments of freedom ever invented by man. …..If all rewards, instead of being offered in money, were offered in the form of public distinctions or privileges, positions of power over other men, or better housing or better food, opportunities for travel or education, this would merely mean that the recipient would no longer be allowed to choose and that whoever fixed the reward determined not only its size but also the particular form in which it should be enjoyed....
….a more just and equitable distribution of wealth. This is, indeed, the only argument for (central) planning which can be seriously pressed. It is indisputable that if we want to secure a distribution of wealth with conforms to some predetermined standard, if we want consciously to decide who is to have what, we must plan the whole economic system. But the question remains whether the price we should have to pay for the realization of somebody’s ideal of justice is not bound to be more discontent and more oppression than was ever caused by the much-abused free play of economic forces.
