Ethical Dimensions of the Economy: Making Use of Hegel and the Concepts of Public and Merit Goods (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9783540771104)

Overview This book is a philosophical reflection (using mainly Hegel, in addition to 1 Adam Smith, Kant, Marx and Catholic Social Thought) about the soc- political dimension of economics. In it I both agree and disagree with the slogan that "the least government is the best government. " I agree with the slogan, in particular as it applies to the economic domain. Adam Smith taught us that rational and self-interested individuals, left by themselves, create a more efficient and reliable economic system than one in which the government has a heavy role as was the case in his time with the merc- tile system (Smith, 14, 651). Ludwig von Mises demonstrated the same idea for the communist command economy (Hayek 1935, 87-130). I d- agree with the above mentioned slogan if it is interpreted as suggesting that we can best forget about the role of the government for a good functioning economy. Instead, I will argue that the government has an important fu- tion in creating the proper regulations and the wise institutional arran- ments which will allow the economy to flourish in a more efficient, fair and humane way. This book is interdisciplinary in nature. It is a philosophical and ethical reflection on economics. Hence, I make use of philosophical ideas, often but not exclusively those of Hegel. I reflect philosophically on economic concepts.

Author: Wilfried Ver Eecke
ISBN-10: 3540771107
ISBN-13: 9783540771104
Publisher: Springer
Language: English
Published: 03/11/2008
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.38lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.75d