This week it became public that at the Dutch company ASML trade secrets were stolen by former employees of Chinese descent. Many people were schocked, because ASML is the flagship of the Dutch knowledge economy. That this is such a sensitive issue is also because recently growing concerns have arisen about how China is developing into a world power.
You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. And wherever there’s business, you’ll find morally reprehensible behaviour. Economist and PhD candidate Annemiek Schilpzand, from Nijmegen School of Management, is trying to unravel the relationship between the market and morality.
Just published: Johan Graafland (2019). “Economic freedom and corporate environmental responsibility: The role of small government and freedom from government regulation.” In: Journal of Cleaner Production, volume 218, 1 May 2019, Pages 250-258.
Modernity, especially the free market, has liberated Western man. But does it also offer a good answer to the question of the good life? Not necessarily, because the free market may also be dehumanizing.
“The idea of ‘good corporate citizenship’ has become popular recently among business ethicists and corporate leaders. You may have noticed its appearance on corporate websites and CEO speeches. But what does it mean and does it matter? Is it any more than a new species of public relations flimflam to set beside terms like ‘corporate social responsibility’ and the ‘triple bottom line’? Is it just a metaphor?”
“So-called identity politics can be both an authentic form of personal expression as well as a force for division and enmity. As identity politics increasingly manifests in our economic life, we encounter the danger of identity economics, where we only agree to economic transactions with those who agree with us on an ever-growing list of moral or even political shibboleths.”
A full vision of the social structures of human flourishing must include three elements: the economic, political, and moral-cultural, so Jordan Ballor – researcher in the project ‘What Good Markets are Good for’ – argues in this essay.
“The idea of a society in which everyone acts out of pure benevolence is a fantastic ideal. It’s just not feasible.”
What economist and business ethicist Johan Graafland likes about The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) by philosopher and economist Adam Smith, is that it displays an enormous understanding of human nature and that he makes you reconsider your point of view times and again. A book interview.
“A much greater risk, it seems to me, is that all kinds of much needed discussions about the structure of our economy, which have gained traction in recent years, will come to a halt again. In which sectors can the free market work well, and in which not? In the financial sector? In the health care sector? In the food sector? And under what conditions?”
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