Moral Markets : The Critical Role of Values in the Economy

Like nature itself, modern economic life is driven by relentless competition and unbridled selfishness. Or is it? Drawing on converging evidence from neuroscience, social science, biology, law, and philosophy, __Moral Markets__ makes the case that modern market exchange works only because most people, most of the time, act virtuously. Competition and greed are certainly part of economics, but __Moral Markets__ shows how the rules of market exchange have evolved to promote moral behavior and how exchange itself may make us more virtuous. Examining the biological basis of economic morality, tracing the connections between morality and markets, and exploring the profound implications of both, __Moral Markets__ provides a surprising and fundamentally new view of economics--one that also reconnects the field to Adam Smith's position that morality has a biological basis. __Moral Markets__, the result of an extensive collaboration between leading social and natural scientists, includes contributions by neuroeconomist Paul Zak; economists Robert H. Frank, Herbert Gintis, Vernon Smith (winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in economics), and Bart Wilson; law professors Oliver Goodenough, Erin O'Hara, and Lynn Stout; philosophers William Casebeer and Robert Solomon; primatologists Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal; biologists Carl Bergstrom, Ben Kerr, and Peter Richerson; anthropologists Robert Boyd and Michael Lachmann; political scientists Elinor Ostrom and David Schwab; management professor Rakesh Khurana; computational science and informatics doctoral candidate Erik Kimbrough; and business writer Charles Handy. Contents Foreword Introduction Preface: Is Free Enterprise Values in Action? Acknowledgments Contributors Part I: Philosophical Foundations of Values One. The Stories Markets Tell Two. Free Enterprise, Sympathy, and Virtue Three. The Status of Moral Emotions in Consequentialist Moral Reasoning Part II. Nonhuman Origins of Values Four. How Selfish an Animal? Five. Fairness and Other-Regarding Preferences in Nonhuman Primates Part III. The Evolution of Values and Society Six. The Evolution of Free Enterprise Values Seven. Building Trust by Wasting Time Part IV. Values and the Law Eight. Taking Conscience Seriously Nine. Trustworthiness and Contract Ten. The Vital Role of Norms and Rules in Maintaining Open Public and Private Economies Eleven. Values, Mechanism Design, and Fairness Part V. Values and the Economy Twelve. Values and Value Thirteen. Building a Market Fourteen. Corporate Honesty and Business Education Fifteen. What’s a Business For? Index