I was most interested to read Richard Grant’s reply (Letters, 6/10/21) to my letter, though I assure him it is possible to understand his arguments and not totally agree with them.

The study of economics is based on solid principles, but it is not an exact science, and can be subject to many interpretations when applied to how societies function.

I have considerable sympathy for small firms which struggle when their workers leave for better pay, but once these firms go under, what happens in the larger and more powerful ones?

At the first sign of losing out to a rival, such firms will cut their costs by placing increasingly impossible workloads on their employees, or making some of them redundant.

Eventually, we are left with just a few huge corporations and yes, you’re right, Richard - we all end up enslaved. But this is an inhumane and wasteful system and we should be addressing it from the top down.

We don’t have to be fatalistically accepting - economic systems can be appraised and adapted.

CHRISTINE TEMPEST

Romulus Close, Dorchester