Economics and Ethics : An Introduction

This book provides an introduction to the relationship between economics and ethics, explaining why ethics enters economics, how ethics affects individual economic behaviour and the interactions of individuals, and how ethics is important in evaluating the performance of economies and of economic policies.

Can economic analysis and policy formulation be free of ethical considerations? This book argues that this is not the case, that ethics enters economics at the ground level, and trying to leave out ethics runs the risk of leading to bad economic analysis and bad policies.

The book argues that individuals who make decisions in the economy - all of us, that is - have ethical values which affect their behaviour and the nature of their interactions with others. It also shows how the evaluation of economic performance and policies requires a thorough analysis of ethics. This includes questions regarding the role of markets and the government, and the importance of efficiency, growth, and fairness.

A new chapter provides an analysis of ethical aspects of the global financial crisis of 2007-08, as an example of ethical considerations that arise in real-world applications of economics. The book assumes little or no background in either economics or ethics and can therefore be read by anyone interested in economic issues, in addition to students and professional economists and philosophers.