About Steven Scalet

Steven Scalet is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Baltimore (UB). Prior to UB, he was the Director of the Program in Philosophy, Politics, and Law at Binghamton University (SUNY), where he received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Scalet received his PhD in Philosophy and MA in Economics from the University of Arizona. Scalet is the editor of Morality and Moral Controversies: Readings in Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy, 10th Edition (Routledge, 2019).

Table of Contents of Markets, Ethics and Business Ethics

See chapter abstracts on Taylor & Francis e-books

Part I: Basic Concepts

1. Markets (What are Market Exchanges? / Why Begin this Study with Market Exchanges? / Debates about How to Define Markets / Blocked Exchanges / Background Conditions for Markets to Operate /Dialogues That Shape This Book / Personal and Institutional Points of View / Summary / Looking Ahead)
2. Property Rights (Introduction / Property as Relations Among People / Hohfeld’s Conception of Property Rights / Tips for Learning and Applying Property Relations / Ownership and a Bundle of Sticks / Further Distinctions / Patents and Intellectual Property / The Limits of Property Rights / Summary)
3. Property Rights, Markets, and Law (Introduction / Property Rights and Markets / Property Rights and Law / Property Rights and Culture / Economic Systems Today / Why Study Property Rights? / Relativism / Two Normative Theories about Property Rights / Summary / Looking Ahead)

Part II: The Purpose and Responsibilities of Corporations

4. Shareholder Primacy Theory of Corporations (Introduction / A Debate / Corporate Purpose: Advance Shareholder Interest by Maximizing Profits within the Law / Debates about Shareholder Rights and Managerial Duties / Ethical Justifications / Interpreting the CSR Movement from the Shareholder Perspective / Separating the Roles of Business and Government / Self-Interest and Markets / Summary)
5. Stakeholder Theory of Corporations, and Other Perspectives (Introduction / A Global Perspective: "All Is Not Well" / Corporate Purpose, Stakeholder Rights, and Managerial Duties / Ethical Justifications / Interpreting the CSR Movement from a Stakeholder Perspective / Corporations and Government / Ethics, Self-Interest, and Markets / Personal and Institutional Points of View Revisited / Other Theories of Corporate Purpose / Corporate Personhood / Summary)

Part III: Efficiency and Welfare: The Most Common Ethical Guides in Business and Economics

6. Efficiency and Welfare (Introduction / Pareto Efficiency as an Ethical Ideal / How Idealized Markets Create Efficiency Gains / Background Conditions / How Actual Markets Approximate Ideal Markets / How Efficiency is a Basis for Criticizing Markets / The Ethical and Practical Appeal of the Efficiency Standard / Complications about the Meaning of Efficiency / Summary)
7. Public Goods and Utilitarianism (Introduction / Public Goods / Two Neighborhoods and a Park: A Public Goods Problem / The Tragedy of the Commons / Responsibility for Collective Action Problems / Limitations to Pareto Efficiency as a Normative Standard / Utilitarianism / Attractions and Limitations to Utilitarianism / Summary)
8. The Invisible Hand: Ethics, Incentives, and Institutions (Introduction / The Invisible Hand Model / The Government Regulation Model / The Professional Ethics Model / Conflicts of Interest / The Dance between Ethics, Incentives, and Institutions / Beyond Welfare / Summary )

Part IV: Ethics Beyond Efficiency

9. Liberty (Introduction / Two Concepts of Liberty / Kantian Ethics / Institutional Implications of Negative Freedom / Institutional Implications Positive Freedom / Two Visions of a Free Society Drawing on both Positive and Negative Freedom / Summary)
10. Rights (Introduction / Preliminaries / Rights as Side-Constraints / Rights and Markets: Nozick’s Entitlement Theory of Justice / Applying the Entitlement Theory to Global Capitalism / Criticisms of Nozick’s Entitlement Theory of Justice / Justifying Rights / Summary)
11. Equality (Introduction / Fundamental Equality / Implications for Institutions / Professional Ethics and the Personal Point of View / Social Contract Theory: Liberty and Equality Joined / Rawls’s Theory of Justice / Beyond Rawls: Businesses and the Social Contract / Integrative Social Contracts Theory / Summary)
12. What People Deserve (Introduction / The Concept of Desert / Deserved Wages / Desert and Professional Ethics / Capitalism and Debates about the Relevance of Desert / Deserving Anythin at All / Summary)
13. Relationships and Character (Introduction / Relationships / Criticisms of Markets and Capitalism based on Relationships and Character / Virtue Ethics / Ayn Rand and Virtuous Rational Egoism / The Ethics of Care / Religious and Non-Western Ethical Approaches: Less of the Self / Integrating Earlier Debates with Discussions of Relationships and Character / Advocacy for Markets and Capitalism based on Relationships and Character / Summary)
14. Community and the Common Good (Introduction / Creative Destruction and Community: Institutional Perspective / Change and Tradition from the Personal Point of View / Markets that Undermine Communities / Markets that Build Communities / The Meaning of the Common Good / Communitarianism / Justice and the Common Good: Complementary or Conflicting Values? / Summary)
15. The Value of an Ethical Life (Introduction / Why Study Ethics? / Skepticism and Ethics / Weighing Values / Conclusion)

Appendix

• I. A Primer on Ethics (Ethics, Norms, and Law / Personal and Institutional Points of View / Ethical Theories)
• II. The Overall Approach of the Book (Three Competing Views about the Role of Ethics in Business / The Ethics and Values of Business and Economic Life: A General Model / Chapter Organization)
• III Syllabi Suggestions
• IV. Summary