After returning home from school, I decided to finally clean both bathrooms. My incentive in cleaning the bathrooms was so that I can write an essay about it for Economics class, which I am writing right now. Of course, there is no need to write the essay at the moment, nor was there any need to clean the bathroom at that moment. I could well have decided to write the essay at some later date. My incentive in writing the essay at the moment is so that I can receive possible extra credit points on the test. As with any decision, there was an opportunity cost. Instead of spending this time writing the essay, I could spend it studying for a test, doing homework for other classes, sleeping, or a variety of other activities. However, after doing a cost-benefit analysis, and weighing the values of the different economic choices, I decided to write the essay (and clean the bathroom too). This is the basis for my economic decision.

Having decided to clean the bathroom, I began the task immediately. First, I had to obtain all the necessary resources, the tools needed to clean the bathroom. Those resources included a brush, soap, spray, and things of that nature. As I was looking for the resources, there appeared to have been a scarcity. I noticed that a necessary brush is missing, preventing me from doing the task. Therefore, I asked my mother for a brush, which she soon procured. Having obtained the brush, I immediately solved my scarcity problem. It was then that I truly began the task.

The first bathroom to clean was the downstairs bathroom, where I decided to tackle the more disgusting part of the bathroom first – the toilet. After putting my rubber gloves on and spraying the cleaner into the toilet bowl and on the seat as well, I started scrubbing the toilet with a brush. After having been satisfied, I flushed and set to work on the sink, which was much easier, and was already fairly clean to begin with. I simply sprayed the cleaner, and then rinsed the sink. To finish it, I mopped the floor. The downstairs bathroom is small, so there wasn’t very much to clean.

After the downstairs bathroom is the upstairs bathroom, which is significantly larger. I felt that I could not clean the whole bathroom by myself, since it would be too time consuming. After all, I still had homework to do, and I certainly did not plan on staying up all night to finish it. So, I came up with a plan. I called my brother over, and asked him if he would like to help me clean the bathroom. Being a shrewd businessman, he certainly would not agree if he did not gain some benefit. So, I proposed an offer to him: he would get five dollars if he helped. He attempted to bargain with me, but after realizing that it’s a take-it of leave-it deal, he ultimately accepted. There was an opportunity cost involved, for now I am five dollars poorer. To convince him to help, I had to give up that benefit I initially had. But, the tradeoff, or the value of the benefit I receive, is that I get an additional pair of helping hands, facilitating the completion of this task in a shorter amount of time. After another cost-benefit analysis, in which I determined that the benefits outweigh the costs, I made an economic decision by giving my brother the five dollars. On my part, it was a rational choice.

As can be seen through our behavior, neither I nor my brother is completely selfless and wiling to help others just for the sake of it. Both of us are motivated by rather selfish goals. I am motivated by earning those extra credit points, and my brother is motivated by earning those five dollars. Yet, we help each other in the process. I can complete my task in a shorter amount of time, and he becomes five dollars richer. And, of course, we both benefit from cleaner bathrooms. It seems that this scenario is governed by the Invisible Hand of Self-Interest, which states that when individuals work for their own self-interests, they also benefit the community. It is quite clear in this case how our selfish motives end up benefiting the community.

The Invisible Hand of Self Interest was formulated by Adams Smith in his magnum opus, The Wealth of Nations. Since the publication of this monumental work, the invisible hand concept has been applied a variety of different fields, most notably Darwinian natural selection. Although a highly influential idea, it is far from being perfect. Smith would have been naïve to think (which he may or may not have thought) that a market works perfectly well when all the individuals act selfishly and there is no need for government intervention, though many contemporary libertarians still do think this way. Take the case of pollution. Many corporations manufacture carbon dioxide-emitting vehicles because they want to make money; their motives are ultimately selfish. Although the vehicle does benefit the owner, it emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming, whose long terms effects benefit no one. This is clearly a case not governed by the invisible hand. Or, how about corporations such as Whirlpool, who manufacture refrigerators, air conditioners, and other such appliances. Many of these appliances emit CFC into the atmosphere, destroying the ozone layer, and benefiting no one. Once again, where is this invisible hand? It would be foolish to think that the only thing needed to guide an economy would be an invisible hand, which at times appear nonexistent. To curb pollution, and other detrimental effects contributed by corporations, there needs to be some degree of government intervention. However, that is for another essay.

Back to the cleaning of bathrooms, I took care of scrubbing the bath tube while my brother took care of the toilet and sink. The toilet and sink were cleaned in the same manner as previously described. The bathtub was cleaned in a very similar fashion. All I did was spray the cleaner, scrub for a while, and then rinse. Of course, I made sure that the bathtub was entirely clean before rinsing. To finish the task, I mopped the floor and cleaned the walls, since these walls were dirtier.

My parents, and the family in general, received a few externalities in my cleaning of the bathrooms, since they did not impact my economic decision to clean the bathrooms. It seems that I caused a few external benefits to them. Of course, that was not really my intention, but I am perfectly fine with it. My mother, upon seeing the completed task, commented on how clean the bathrooms are, now that I cleaned them. As a result of that comment, I felt a strong sense of accomplishment, and set off straight away towards completing my next task.