In terms of finance, the goal of firms should be to maximize the profits of shareholders. However, this brings up the concerns in the economic aspect of prioritizing the people at the top, who are making the most money out of all the workers in the firm. It has been shown that, “Income inequality has grown within advanced economies as top earners have experienced more rapid income growth and bottom earners were left behind” (PIIE). According to the Gini coefficient, we can see that the U.S. is “the most unequal high-income economy in the world” (PIIE).

The people at the top have a higher concentration of wealth, allowing them to save more money and increase their wealth quicker than the average American. This creates issues regarding economic inequalities, especially in terms of race and gender. Milton Friedman disregarded the people at the bottom in his explanation of business. The wants and needs of society need to also be considered.

In this graph from Statista, it is shown that race is a leading factor in wage discrimination. In 1979 the wage gap was at 18.1% and in 2015 it was up to 26.7%. In order to avoid discrimination and unfairness, businesses need to look into the needs of the workers. An important way to focus on this is creating fair wages in order to keep workers motivated and able to support their lifestyles. These wages must be available to all people, regardless of race or gender.

Without happy workers, a business would fail and the shareholders would suffer because there would be less of a profit coming in. Friedman argued that free market capitalism would prioritize shareholders and I do recognize that the Homo Economicus thinker would use this theory to maximize profit; however, I do not agree with this theory because it has negative outcomes for people who are not wealthy.