1st Edition
Ethics and Economics An Introduction to Free Markets, Equality and Happiness
This textbook applies economic ethics to evaluate the free market system and enables students to examine the impact of free markets using the three main ethical approaches: utilitarianism, principle-based ethics and virtue ethics.
Ethics and Economics systematically links empirical research to these ethical questions, with a focus on the core topics of happiness, inequality and virtues. Each chapter offers a recommended further reading list. The final chapter provides a practical method for applying the different ethical approaches to morally evaluate an economic policy proposal and an example of the methodology being applied to a real-life policy.
This book will give students a clear theoretical and methodological toolkit for analyzing the ethics of market policies, making it a valuable resource for courses on economic ethics and economic philosophy.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 license.
1 Introduction
PART I FREE MARKETS, WELFARE AND HAPPINESS
2 Utilitarianism
3 Three economic perspectives on the "good" market system
4 Free markets, welfare and happiness: Empirical research
PART II FREE MARKETS, RIGHTS AND INEQUALITY
5 The ethics of duties and rights
6 The ethics of justice
7 Free markets, rights and inequality: empirical research
PART III FREE MARKETS, VIRTUES AND HAPPINESS
8 Virtue ethics and care ethics
9 Adam Smith on markets, virtues and happiness
10 Markets, virtues and happiness: empirical research
PART IV CONSOLIDATION AND INTEGRATION
11 Liberalism and communitarianism
12 The morality of free markets: Integration and application
Biography
Johan Graafland (1960) has been full professor of economics, business and ethics at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, since 2000 and is a fellow of the Tilburg Sustainability Center.
"With this book, Graafland provides both an excellent introduction to ethics-and-economics and an innovative exploration of the effect of free markets on happiness and inequality, grounded in moral philosophy and economic theory and supplemented by a wealth of real-world data. This is truly a landmark achievement that is certain to be an indispensable resource for scholars, teachers, and students for years to come." – Mark D. White, Chair and Professor, Department of Philosophy, College of Staten Island/CUNY, and editor of The Oxford Handbook of Ethics and Economics
"This text is unique in showing how to apply alternative ethical theories, from Utilitarianism and Kantian ethics to virtue ethics, to assess policy measures implemented in different market settings. These theories are applied to three areas: happiness, inequality and virtuousness. I have no doubt that both scholars and interested readers will benefit from this applied approach to ethics and economics." – Dr. Giancarlo Ianulardo, University of Exeter Business School
