Question

(5) How does Mill support his claim that “trade is a social act”

Answer 1

Commerce is chief among the kinds of social conduct that Mill deems amenable to social regulation. He stipulates that "trade is a social act," and as such, it belongs in a different class than the self-regarding freedoms defended in On Liberty. "It is because of the government ought to intervene in the economy, Mill argues that economies function best when left to their own devices. Therefore, government intervention, though theoretically permissible, would be counterproductive. Later, he attacks government-run economies as "despotic." He believes that if the government ran the economy, then all people would aspire to be part of a bureaucracy that had no incentive to further the interests of any but itself.