Edited by Parth J. Shah
Morality of Markets presents a unique compilation of essays by distinguished economists, ethicists, and theologians that explores the moral and ethical foundations of the free market.
The book overwhelmingly supports the fundamental morality of markets and the general immorality of government interventions in capitalist acts among consenting adults. The notion that private property and market exchanges are inherently unjust is systematically disproved, both from the economic and philosophical perspective.
The essays comprehensively address critical issues ranging from the underlying ethics of voluntary exchange, morality in commerce and corporation, the immorality of state intervention, and the role of markets in the teaching of major world religions.
Gurcharan Das is his foreword underscores the relevance of this approach: "Our animus against capitalism may have diminished after communism's fall; increasingly, some Indians may also agree that markets do indeed deliver greater prosperity; but most Indian still think that capitalism is not a moral system."
Hence this book is timely. We have already tasted significant benefits of competition in recent years; we have also experienced enough economic liberty for a decade to be more receptive to the ideas of this book.
Table of Contents
- Foreword: Gurcharan Das
- Acknowledgements
- Overview: Parth J. Shah
Part A - The Ethics of Exchange
- Morality as Cooperation (Peter J. Boettke)
- I, Pencil (Leonard E. Read)
- The Argument for Free Markets: Morality vs Efficiency (Walter E. Williams)
- The Ugly Market: Why Capitalismis Hated, Feared and Despised (Israel M. Kirzner)
- Ten Ethical Objections to the Market Economy (Murray N. Rothbard)
- How to Judge Globalism (Amartya Sen)
Part B - Morality in Commerce and Corporation
- Bourgeois Blues (D. McCloskey)
- Morality and Character Development: The Roles of Capitalism, Commerce, and the Corporation (Edward W. Younkins)
- Discovery, Private Property and the Theory ofJustice in Capitalist Society (Israel M. Kirzner)
- The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits (Milton Friedman)
- Business Ethics Gone Wrong (Alexei M. Marcoux)
- Business Ethics in a Free Society (Tibor R. Machan)
- The Business Corporation as a Moral Community (Brian Griffiths)
- The Market Order and the Moral Order (Don Lavoie & Emily C. Wright)
Part C - The Immorality of State Intervention
- The Rise of Government and the Decline of Morality (James A. Dorn)
- The Petty Tyranny of Government Regulation (Tibor R. Machan)
- The Immorality of Business Subsidies (Paul A. Cleveland)
- Are Antitrust Laws Immoral? (Jeffery Tucker)
Part D - Religion and Markets
- Liberalism and Markets in Hindu Spirituality (Sharad Joshi)
- The Capitalist Structures of Hinduism (Mario Gómez-Zimmerman)
- Islam and Markets (Imad A. Ahmad)
- Christian Morality and Market Capitalism: Friends or Foes? (Ian Harper)
