Economics, ethics and the market : introduction and applications / Johan J. Graafland.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Graafland, J. J.

Series:

Routledge frontiers of political economy ; 80.

Routledge frontiers of political economy ; 80

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economics--Moral and ethical aspects.

Economics.

Neoclassical school of economics.

Physical Description:

xii, 437 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2007.

Summary:

The primary aim of the text is to introduce the reader to the relationship between economics and ethics and to the application of economic ethics in the evaluation of the market. The reader will gain insight into: * The ethical and methodological strategy of economics and criticism of the core assumptions that underpin the economic defense of free market operation.* The characteristics of different ethical theories (utilitarianism, duty and rights ethics, justice and virtue ethics) that can be used to evaluate the free market.* How to apply economics in conjunction with ethical theories to evaluate economic trends and policies that promote the free operation of the market and are subject to public debate.These insights will help to develop the reasoning and analytical skills needed to criticize economic analysis as well as to apply ethical concepts to moral issues in economic policy.

Contents:

1.1 Economics and ethics 2

1.2 Defense and critique of the free market 11

1.3 Purpose and plan of the book 19

Part I Markets and economics 29

2 The theory of perfect markets 31

2.1 Pareto optimality, welfare theory and perfect competition 32

2.2 Conditions for perfect competition 35

2.3 Market imperfections 37

2.4 The role of the government 43

2.5 Corporate social responsibility and the reputation mechanism 47

2.6 An alternative paradigm: Marxian economics 51

3 Rationality 60

3.1 Conditions for rationality 61

3.2 Bounded rationality 65

3.3 Commitments and procedural rationality 75

3.4 The role of the government 82

4 Self-interest and social preferences 84

4.1 Consumerism 86

4.2 Adam Smith on sympathy 87

4.3 Altruism, reciprocity, fairness and commitment to common goals 96

4.4 Social preferences and economic efficiency 101

5 Status goods, non-satiation and happiness 108

5.1 Preference drifts from social interaction 110

5.2 Habit formation and interaction between capacity and needs 117

5.3 Does welfare make us happier? 120

6 Economics as an inexact science 131

6.1 Methodological individualism 132

6.2 The hypothetico-deductive approach 133

6.3 Inexactness of the hypothetico-deductive approach 135

6.4 Deductive versus inductive method 143

6.5 Economics as a cultural science 144

Part II Markets and ethics 147

7 Utilitarianism and welfare theory 149

7.1 Characteristics of utilitarianism 150

7.2 Pareto optimality and cost-benefit analysis 155

7.3 Problems with utilitarianism 159

7.4 Adaptations of utilitarianism 168

8 The ethics of duties and rights 173

8.1 Consequential and deontological ethical theories 173

8.2 Ethics of duty: Immanuel Kant 175

8.3 Rights ethics: the libertarian view 181

8.4 Real freedom and positive rights 188

9 The ethics of justice 194

9.1 The concept of justice 195

9.2 The theory of justice of Rawls 197

9.3 The entitlement theory of Nozick 208

9.4 Distributive justice: an overview of criteria 216

9.5 Justice and private property rights 222

10 Virtue ethics and care ethics 225

10.1 The virtue ethics of Aristotle 226

10.2 The virtue ethics of Adam Smith 234

10.3 The ethics of care 240

10.4 The impact of virtues on market operation 242

10.5 The impact of market operation on virtues 244

11.1 Liberalism 254

11.2 Communitarianism 257

11.3 Applying different ethical theories: a framework 262

Part III Applications 269

12 Towards more labor market participation by parents? 271

12.1 Division of work between spouses: four stylized models 272

12.2 Utilitarian evaluation: externalities and bounded rationality 273

12.3 Rights, justice, virtues and care 277

12.4 Overview and evaluation 280

13 Reforms of the pension system and solidarity 285

13.1 The concept of solidarity: justice or community? 287

13.2 How pension reforms impinge on solidarity 288

13.3 State pensions and justice: an evaluation 293

14 Cosmetic surgery, utility and freedom 304

14.1 Cosmetic surgery, market imperfections and utility 305

14.2 Freedom and the beauty ideal 309

14.3 The practice of cosmetic surgeons and virtues 312

15 More economic freedom, less collective rest? 318

15.1 Christian ethics, liberalism and communitarianism 319

15.2 The Christian view on collective rest 322

15.3 The liberal view 325

16 Does ICT foster well-being? 330

16.1 Utilitarian evaluation: market imperfections and bounded rationality 330

16.2 Rights and justice 334

16.3 Community and ICT 337

17 Ethical questions about globalization 346

17.1 Persistence of market imperfections 348

17.2 Justice 352

17.3 Human rights 358

17.4 Solidarity and cultural diversity 361

18 World poverty and the duty to aid 365

18.1 Development aid and economic growth 366

18.2 A moral duty to development aid? 369

18.3 Complications 376

19 Toward an economics of enough? 380

19.1 Structural problems 380

19.2 Economic growth as a rule of thumb 382

19.3 Criticism of neoclassical economics 383

19.4 Toward an economics of enough 385

19.5 Evaluation 387.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [396]-423) and index.

ISBN:

0415407702

0203966333

OCLC:

63472939