Market, Ethics and Religion: The Market and its Limitations

Description

This book deals with the basic question of what money can and cannot buy and offers an analysis of the limitations of the market mechanism. Few concepts are as controversial as religion and the market mechanism. Some consider religion to be in conflict with a modern rational scientific view of life, and thus as a contributory cause of harsh conflicts and a barrier to human happiness. Others consider religious beliefs as the foundation for ethics and decent behaviour. Similar, a number of neoliberal writers acclaimed the market mechanism as one of the greatest triumphs of the human mind, and saw it as the main reason why rich countries became rich. Others are extremely skeptical and stress how this mechanism has result in big multinational firms with powerfully rich owners and masses of poor low-paid workers. Researchers from various fields - economists, social scientists, theologians and philosophers - handle these questions very differently, applying different methods and different ideals. This book offers a synthesis of the different viewpoints. It deals with economists’, theologians’ and philosophers’ differing thoughts about the market and its limitations.  Preface Contents Chapter 1: Introduction: Market, Ethics and Religion 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Regulations Necessary 1.3 The Economists and the Market 1.4 Limitations of the Market 1.5 Moral Restrictions as Alternatives to Economic Incentives 1.6 The Role of Market, Ethics, and Religion in Regulating Society 1.7 First Part: Economics 1.8 Second Part: Religion and Society 1.9 Third Part: Different Cases References Part I: Economics of the Market Chapter 2: The Market in Economics: Behavioural Assumptions and Value Judgments 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Supply and Demand 2.3 Utility Maximization and Consumer Behavior 2.4 Profit Maximization and Producer Decisions 2.5 The Market Mechanism and the Public Interest 2.6 What Markets Cannot Do 2.7 Equality Versus Efficiency 2.8 The Nature of Preferences 2.9 Economics as an Influence on Society 2.10 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 3: Market Failures and What to Do About It? 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Conditions for Efficiency in Market Solutions 3.3 Public Goods 3.4 Externalities 3.5 Human Rights, Peace and Security 3.6 Climate and Climate Changes 3.7 Research-Based Knowledge 3.8 Biodiversity and the Noah’s Ark Problem 3.9 The Commons 3.10 Pollution 3.11 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 4: Unproductive Market Ideology 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Imaginary Speculation 4.3 Social Justice and Distribution 4.4 Universal Comparability in Money Terms 4.5 The Spectrum of Incentives 4.6 Conclusion: Too Little Planning References Chapter 5: Happiness in the Hands of Empirical Economists 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Happiness and Income 5.3 The Impact on SWB from Other Factors 5.4 Happiness, Level and Distribution 5.5 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 6: Economics, Religion, and Ethics: Economics of Good and Evil 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Spirit in Economics 6.3 Christianity Based on Economics? 6.3.1 Redemption at a Price 6.3.2 Debita Nostra - Our Sins 6.3.3 Old Testament and Judaism 6.3.4 Creation Economy 6.4 Economics of Good and Evil 6.5 Irrelevant to Evil Economy 6.6 Fruit of the Spirit of Economics 6.6.1 Kopernikan turn 6.7 Negative Fruit 6.7.1 Demonic Capitalism 6.7.2 Moral and Moralizing Capitalism 6.8 Fruit of the Spirit of Trade: Peace 6.9 Conclusion References Part II: Religion and the Market Chapter 7: Lutheran Social Ethics 7.1 Ernst Troeltsch’s Perception of Lutheran Social Ethics 7.2 Martin Luther’s Social and Political Thinking 7.3 A Contemporary Lutheran Social Ethics 7.4 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 8: Theology of Money: Rationalisation and Spiritual Goods 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Adam Smith and Søren Kierkegaard 8.3 Modern Irrationality: A Rational Utopia 8.4 Modern Irrationality: Organisation and Individual 8.5 Modern Irrationality: Do We Know What We Want? 8.6 The Fate of Economic Rationalisation 8.7 How Successful Is the Market? 8.8 Money 8.9 Theology of Money 8.10 Conclusion References Chapter 9: Two Bishops on the Ethics of the Market Economy 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Martensen’s Critical View of the Market 9.3 Monrad’s Defence of the Market Economy 9.4 Martensen, Monrad, and the Division of Labour 9.5 Attitudes to the Nouveau Riche Capitalists and to the Jews 9.6 Monarchy and Universal Suffrage 9.7 Other Participants in the Debate 9.8 Conclusion References Chapter 10: K.E. Løgstrup’s Ethics: Is There a Christian Alternative to Economics? 10.1 Introduction: A Fundamental Dilemma 10.2 Løgstrup’s Attitude and Methods 10.3 Løgstrup, Charity, Justice and the Market 10.4 Løgstrup and the Danish Welfare State 10.5 Løgstrup, Nature and the Environment 10.6 Summary and Conclusion References Chapter 11: Reading Genesis 1.28 with a Plea for Planetary Responsibility 11.1 A One-Sided Interpretation of Genesis 1:28, Seen from a History of Ideas Perspective 11.2 Selected Milestones Along the Path of the One-Sided Interpretation 11.3 Reasons Supporting the One-Sided Interpretation 11.4 The Shift of Power in the Mankind-Nature Relation 11.5 What the One-Sided Interpretation Ignores 11.6 Stewardship 11.7 Mankind, the Creature Created to Create 11.8 Re-reading Genesis 1:28 in a Context of Planetary Responsibility References Chapter 12: Religion, Politics, and Moral in Recent Denmark 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Religion 12.3 Religion and Politics 12.4 Religion and Moral 12.5 Conclusion References Chapter 13: Economic Life and the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church 13.1 Introduction: The Early History 13.2 From Leo XIII to Pope Francis 13.3 Social Teaching as a Formal Discipline 13.4 Morality in Economic Life – For All Human Beings and for All of the Human Being 13.5 An Ecological Dimension to Catholic Social Teaching 13.6 Conclusions References Chapter 14: On Muslim Attitudes to Modern Capitalism and to What It Brought Along 14.1 Introduction 14.2 Max Weber and the Sociology of Islam 14.3 The Spread of Capitalism and Inter-War Industrialization 14.4 Decolonization, the Cold War and the Rise of Modern Islamic Economic Thought 14.5 The Islamic Awakening and the Rise of Islamic Banking: The Period 1970–2000 14.6 Scholarship and Modern Muslim Financial Norms 14.7 Conclusion References Part III: The Limitation of the Market: Some Cases Chapter 15: Markets for Human Body Parts: The Case of Commercial Surrogacy 15.1 Introduction 15.2 Assessment of Surrogacy Markets 15.3 Alternative Economic Perspectives on Surrogacy 15.4 Dignity, Autonomy and Consent: A Perspective from Kantian Philosophy 15.5 Recapturing the Economic and Philosophical Perspective on Commercial Surrogate Motherhood 15.6 Conclusion References Chapter 16: Gender, Sex and Market – “Can Sex Be a Service Like Any Other?” 16.1 Introduction 16.2 Sexual Power, Sacred Prostitution and Commercialized Sex 16.3 Money, Market and Commercialized Sex in Fiction, Film and Popular Culture 16.4 “Commercialization of Intimate Life” – Trends and Counter Trends 16.5 Epilogue: #MeToo and Corona References Chapter 17: The Problem of Interest for Luther and the Danish Reformers 17.1 Martin Luther 17.2 The Problem of Loan Interest for the Danish Monarchs and Theologians During the Reformation References Chapter 18: Poverty, Income Distribution, Lutheran Christianity and the Danish Welfare State 18.1 Some Indicative Figures 18.2 Inequality and Scripture 18.3 Luther’s Teaching on Poverty and Beggary 18.4 Current Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church 18.5 The Evangelical Church in Germany 18.6 The Presbyterian Church in the United States 18.7 The Danish Context 18.8 Luther and the Normative Basis of the Danish Welfare State 18.9 The Fundamental Tension of the Danish Welfare State 18.10 Instead of a Conclusion References Chapter 19: The Company as a Good Citizen: Institutional Responsibility and Cosmopolitanism 19.1 Introduction 19.2 The Challenge of Business Legitimacy in Global Society 19.3 Economics and Religion: Values Behind the Search for Business Legitimacy 19.4 The Republican Conception of Corporate Citizenship 19.5 Corporate Citizenship and Cosmopolitan Ethics in Globalization 19.6 Critique of Cosmopolitan Business Ethics: From Economic Religion to Moral Economy 19.7 Conclusion References Chapter 20: Climate Problems: Market and Ethics 20.1 The Scope and Nature of the Problems 20.2 Mainstream Economics and Climate Problems 20.3 Ethical Issues: The Future and Sustainability 20.4 Sustainable Development and Principles of Equity 20.5 Ethical Issues: The Past and Its Legacy 20.6 Uncertainties and Tipping Points 20.7 Conclusion References Index