Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy

by Wilber, Charles K.; Anderson, Elizabeth; Cowen, Tyler; Crocker, David A.; Dawes, Robyn M.; Elster, Jon; Etzioni, Amitai; Evensky, Jerry; Frank, Robert H.; Gilovich, Thomas; Held, Virginia; Hoksbergen, Roland; Hubin, Donald C.; Loury, Glenn C.; Nielsen, Ri

• ISBN13: 9780847687909
• ISBN10: 0847687902
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-12-18
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

Ethics, argue the contributors to this book, plays an important role in economics. Economists have ethical values that help shape the way they work; economic actors have ethical values that help shape their behavior; and economic institutions and policies affect people differently, so that different ethical evaluations must supplement economic evaluations. In Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy, a host of distinguished philosophers and economists investigates the interaction between ethics and economics, both in economic theory and economic policy. This is a very important book for students and scholars of economics, philosophy, and public policy and for those concerned with the way these fields interrelate.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Economists, Value Judgments, and Economic Theory	p. 3
Ethics and the Invisible Hand	p. 7
Ethical Values and Economic Theory: A Survey	p. 17
Toward a Better Understanding of the Positive/Normative Distinction in Economics	p. 33
Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation?	p. 51
Rationality, Ethics, and the Behavior of Economic Agents	p. 65
Selfishness and Altruism	p. 69
Cooperation	p. 79
Trust, Moral Hazards, and Social Economics: Incentives and the Organization of Work	p. 93
God and the Ghetto	p. 107
Ethical Theories and Theories of Justice	p. 111
Normative Ethical Theories	p. 119
Toward a Kantian Socio-Economics	p. 139
Feminist Transformations of Moral Theory	p. 151
Arendt's Action Philosophy and the Manager as Eichmann, Richard III, Faust, or Institution Citizen	p. 175
Social Justice	p. 187
Economic Institutions and Ethics	p. 217
The Ethical Limitations of the Market	p. 223
What Do We Owe the Future?	p. 251
Is Women's Labor a Commodity?	p. 267
Metaphors of Discrimination: A Comparison of Gunnar Myrdal and Gary Becker	p. 287
Toward Development Ethics	p. 305
Economic Policies and Ethics	p. 353
The Scope and Limits of Preference Sovereignty	p. 357
The Moral Justification of Benefit/Cost Analysis	p. 377
Index	p. 405
About the Contributors	p. 413
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