America's economic moralists
Subtitle: a history of rival ethics and economics
By: Donald E. Frey.
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 239
ISBN-13: 9780791493519
Subjects: Economists -- United States -- History; Economics -- Moral and ethical aspects -- United States; Economics -- Sociological aspects -- United States; Social ethics -- United States -- History; Economics -- United States -- History
Description: "Since colonial times, two discernable schools have debated major issues of economic morality in America. The central norm of one morality is the freedom, or autonomy, of the individual and defines virtues, vices, obligations, and rights by how they contribute to that freedom. The other morality is relational and defines economic ethics in terms of behaviors mandated by human connectedness. America's Economic Moralists shows how each morality has been composed of an ethical outlook paired with a compatible economic theory, each supporting the other. Donald E. Frey adopts a multidisciplinary approach, not only drawing upon historical economic thought, American religious thought, and ethics, but also finding threads of economic morality in novels, government policies, and popular writings. He uses the history of these two supported yet very different views to explain the culture of excess that permeates the morality of today's economic landscape."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.