You cannot quantify [selfishness] because it is subjective.
no it isn't. self interest, self concern. and Hoplite is absolutely correct; capitalism is the economic principle of self interest. there is nothing wrong with pursuing one's self interest, though, unless it steps on the interests of others... which capitalists are given to.
Smith was a political theorist, not actually an economic theorist. He thought the interest of the State, or political entity, should be subjugated to those of the 'nation', or the people of the State. When the people benefit, the State does so by default; the reverse is not true. He was right.
Capitalism is a materialist theory, that is, a theory regarding how goods and people are related. He was arguing against the 'zero sum' argument of the then prevalent economic system known as 'mercantilism' which was centered around simply buying and selling and equated wealth and 'stuff' such as gold or silver, which itself actually has little value. Smith held that wealth was other kinda sorta stuff and that that the resources for profitability were limitless and so profit could be limitless. he was wrong about that.
Capitalism is a form of materialism that centers around self interest:
- Goods and services are produced for profitable exchange - Human labor power is a commodity for sale - value in not innate but derives from labor. he was right about that, too. but, so was Marx. Marx argued that Smith's labor = value paradigm had been distorted, that the greatest value STILL went to those who provided the least labor. HE was right about that.
Smith believed the 'free market' would resolve the issue of the 'selfishness' of self interest. This would occur as a 'natural result of he called the 'invisible hand' - a fanciful notion about the leveling effect of the confluence of self-interest, competition, and supply and demand. He believed that the market was 'self regulating'. he was wrong about that too and lived to know it.
Competition was to be the propellant of the free market, ostensibly causing producers to protect consumers by protecting themselves against the competition. Instead, of course, they created monopolies and consortia to protect themselves while screwing the consumer. They created their own 'market controls' to limit production, driving up prices while driving down costs and increasing profits.
Capitalism is not good or bad... capitalism is an idea. What people DO with capitalism may be good or bad - the two terms really only have meaning as a qualifier of behavior. If how we practice capitalism is strangling a good many of us (and it damned sure is), it is IN 'how we practice' it.
geo.