Markets & Morals
Ethical Issues in Economics
History of Science, Philosophy & Culture in Indian Civilisation Vol. XIV, Part 3


Edited By Ashok S. Guha
May 2011
Munshiram
Distributed by Coronet Books
ISBN: 9788187586517
263 pages, Illustrated
$77.50 Hardcover

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Some of the issues that the various contributors to this volume discuss are (1) what constitutes a 'just' allocation of economic resources, (2) what is meant by 'fairness' in exchange, (3) what mechanisms exist, or can be designed, to ensure fairness at the micro-or justice at the macro-level. Part of the book is devoted to a related, but not identical, issue. Empirical evidence strongly suggests the presence in most populations of a degree of honesty and a sense of fairness well beyond what would be expected in a world of narrowly selfish maximizers. Homo economicus, it seems, does not rule in most societies. But how do values like intrinsic honesty survive the competitive environment of the market, an institution based, as Adam Smith famously declared, not on the benevolence of the participants but not their self-interest?

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