Economics within a Pluralist Ethical Tradition

Ethical pluralism is the recognition that multiple ethical frameworks operate in social settings to solve problems of moral hazard. In particular, non-consequentialist considerations of duty and virtue operate to restrain self-interest and lower transaction costs in exchange, such as when asymmetric...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of social economy 2014-10, Vol.72 (4), p.417-435
Main Author: Wight, Jonathan B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adam Smith
Asymmetric information
Community Research
Credit
Economic Models
Economic Research
Economics
Ethics
instincts
Moral hazard
Morality
Pluralism
Presidential Address
Social sciences
Social values
Studies
Transaction Costs
Truth
Utility functions
Welfare Economics
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Summary:Ethical pluralism is the recognition that multiple ethical frameworks operate in social settings to solve problems of moral hazard. In particular, non-consequentialist considerations of duty and virtue operate to restrain self-interest and lower transaction costs in exchange, such as when asymmetric information exists. Positive economics has tended to rely exclusively on a behavioral model that assumes utility maximization, but this approach fails to give credit to the neglected foundations of duty and virtue. Consequences, duties, and virtues all play a role in sustaining businesses, for example, and in promoting the search for truth within the economic research community. Normative welfare economics can also benefit from understanding vertical and horizontal pluralism.
ISSN:0034-6764
1470-1162
DOI:10.1080/00346764.2014.960661