Ethics, Economics, and Politics: Some Principles of Public Policy

in ethics, Economics, And Politics Ian Little Returns To Offer A New Defence Of A Rule-based Utilitarianism As A Basis For Assessing The Role Of The State. Lucidly And Elegantly He Explains How The Three Disiplines Of Philosophy, Economics And Politics Can Be Integrated To Provide Guidance On Issues Of Public Policy. foreign Affairs adam Smith Himself Was A Moral Philosopher, And Many Economists In The Nineteenth Century Made Significant Contributions To What These Days Would Be Called Social Ethics. The Last 30 Years Has Seen Social Ethics Flourish In The Hands Of Philosophers Such As John Rawls, Robert Nozick, And Ronald Dworkin, Often Aiming To Provide An Ethical Rationale For — Or Rejection Of — Income Redistribution; Among Economists, The Habit Has Lapsed. But In This Short, Closely Written Book, Octogenarian English Economist Little Offers His Mature Reflections On Welfare Economics And On The Recent Efforts By Philosophers To Provide A Solid Intellectual Basis For Moral Principles And Justice. Little Greets Most Of These Efforts, And Their Attacks On Utilitarianism, With A Commonsensical Skepticism. He Maintains That Any Insistence On Equality As A Social Norm Needs To Meet The Operational Requirements Of Precise Specification And Measurement. This Book Provides A Valuable Critical Tour Of Modern Ethics As Applied To The Scope And Roles Of Government In The Economy. This book studies the interfaces of ethics, economics, and politics. Public policy issues involve all three of these subjects. Although it may be seen as suggesting the nucleus of a joint university course, the book is accessible to and should interest all those concerned with political decisions. Any such decision needs a criterion for judging whether one action or outcome is better than another. Even a dictator must to some extent be concerned about the economic welfare of the citizens; and a democratic government more so. But how is a person's economic welfare to be judged? Furthermore, any political decision affects the economic welfare of different people differently. How then is the welfare of a community to be judged? This is an ethical question. Underlying any coherent public policy there must be a relevant moral code. I: Economics and philosophy -- 1. Personal utility and welfare -- 2. Collective utility and welfare -- 3. Welfare economics -- II: Politics and philosophy -- 4. The role of the state -- 5. Utilitarianism: theory and applications -- 6. Utilitarianism, justice, and equality -- 7. Contractarianism -- 8. Communitarianism -- III: Economics and politics -- 9. Games, conventions, and public goods -- 10. Positive political economy -- Normative political economy -- IV: Ethics, economics, and politics -- 12. The principles of public policy Publisher description: Little offers a new defence of a rule-based utilitarianism as a basis for assessing the role of the State and explains how the three disiplines of philosophy, economics and politics can be integrated to provide guidance on issues of public policy NL-ZmNBD Publisher description: Little offers a new defence of a rule-based utilitarianism as a basis for assessing the role of the State and explains how the three disciplines of philosophy, economics and politics can be integrated to provide guidance on issues of public policy In a new defence of utilitarianism as a basis for assessing the role of the state Ian Little lucidly explains how economics philosophy and politics can be integrated to provide guidance on issues of public policy