Ethics and economics: an introduction to free markets, equality and happiness

Table of Contents
1 Introduction

PART I FREE MARKETS, WELFARE AND HAPPINESS

2 Utilitarianism

3 Three economic perspectives on the "good" market system

4 Free markets, welfare and happiness: Empirical research

PART II FREE MARKETS, RIGHTS AND INEQUALITY

5 The ethics of duties and rights

6 The ethics of justice

7 Free markets, rights and inequality: empirical research

PART III FREE MARKETS, VIRTUES AND HAPPINESS

8 Virtue ethics and care ethics

9 Adam Smith on markets, virtues and happiness

10 Markets, virtues and happiness: empirical research

PART IV CONSOLIDATION AND INTEGRATION

11 Liberalism and communitarianism

12 The morality of free markets: Integration and application

This textbook applies economic ethics to evaluate the free market system and enables students to examine the impact of free markets using the three main ethical approaches: utilitarianism, principle-based ethics and virtue ethics.

Ethics and Economics systematically links empirical research to these ethical questions, with a focus on the core topics of happiness, inequality and virtues. Each chapter offers a recommended further reading list. The final chapter provides a practical method for applying the different ethical approaches to morally evaluate an economic policy proposal and an example of the methodology being applied to a real-life policy.

This book will give students a clear theoretical and methodological toolkit for analyzing the ethics of market policies, making it a valuable resource for courses on economic ethics and economic philosophy.