Economics and Ethics

Rationality in Law and Legal Theory: An Ethics Symposium

Mark D. White

Below are details of a fascinating symposium which will be held at Georgetown Law in April:

Rationality in Law and Legal Theory: An Ethics Symposium

April 12-13, 2013

Both the law and legal theory make use of the notion of rationality.  Within legal theory both positivists and natural law theorists have put forward theses about rationality in order to support their accounts of the nature of legality. And the law itself is rife with appeals to rationality — for example, in tort law, to specify the general duty of care violation of which constitutes negligence, and in criminal law, to fill out various standard excuses (duress, mistake, provocation, etc.). The aim of this symposium is to bring together philosophers and legal theorists to examine these notions of rationality within their own disciplines and to consider the relationship between rationality as it is conceived within the law and as it has been conceived in legal theory.  Speakers include Marcia Baron (St. Andrews), Heidi Li Feldman (Georgetown), Claire Finkelstein (Penn), John Gardner (Oxford), Scott Hershovitz (Michigan), and Lewis Kornhauser (NYU).

Sponsored by the Department of Philosophy at Georgetown University and the Georgetown University Law Center

Registration for this event is complimentary, but is required. Please complete our online registration form.

Highlights of ASSA (pt. 3): Costly Posturing in China

Jonathan B. Wight

Xi Chen (Yale University) presented a fascinating paper at the recent ASE/ASSA meetings in San Diego (co-author Xiaobo Zhang of the International Food Policy Research Institute and Peking University).

"Costly Posturing: Relative Status, Ceremonies and Early Child Development" explores the relationship between social behaviors and economic and health outcomes. In particular, it examines how public ceremonies such as funerals, weddings, home blessings, and other events negatively affect substantive measures of human well-being -- specifically by caloric intake and malnutrition. People feel intense social pressure to participate in these social rituals even when it detracts from the well-being of their own children.

The authors present evidence that in rural areas of China, poor families spend more on gifts than do the richest families-- creating what the authors call "squeeze effects". The impact of this is statistically observed on children who are in utero at the time of the ceremonies.

This is counter to what one normally thinks, which is that social events tend to be redistributive. For example, in the highlands of Guatemala, ceremonies are paid for disproportionately by wealthier villagers. Such ceremonies serve to redistribute wealth in society according to a cosmic vision of what promotes justice in the circumstances. (See: Blevins, Ramirez, and Wight, "Ethics in the Mayan Marketplace," in Mark D. White, ed., Accepting the Invisible Hand: Market-Based Approaches to Social-Economic Problems(Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, pp. 87-110).

These findings also appear to contradict Confucian beliefs about the duty of a leader to provide for those in a lower hierarchy. It may be that these data can be explained by arguing that poor people have to try harder to make an impression and gain status. Hence, they give larger gifts.

Adam Smith noted that it is not simply the rich who are interested in status. Writing in The Wealth of Nations, Smith noted that:

"By necessaries I understand, not only the commodities which are indispensably necessary for the support of life, but whatever the custom of the country renders it indecent for creditable people, even of the lowest order, to be without. A linen shirt, for example, is, strictly speaking, not a necessary of life…. But in the present times, through the greater part of Europe, a creditable day-labourer would be ashamed to appear in publick without a linen shirt, the want of which would be supposed to denote that disgraceful degree of poverty, which, it is presumed, nobody can well fall into without extreme bad conduct. (566)"

What is not in the paper is a broader general analysis that would examine whether social affiliations provide important pay-backs over many decades to the wider group. That is, social events during hard times may injure an in-utero baby. But being part of the social group may confer advantages to other siblings in terms of jobs and marriages.

This was a highly stimulating paper and a remarkable attempt to understand the link between status spending and negative health indicators in poor communities.

Call for papers: Association for Social Economics sessions at 2014 ASSA meetings

Mark D. White

As the program chair for the Association for Social Economics sessions at the 2014 Allied Social Science Associations meeting in January 2014, I am pleased to announce the call for papers:

Association for Social Economics

Call for Papers

Allied Social Science Associations Annual Meeting
Philadelphia, PA, January 3-5, 2014

THEME:  Exploring the Relationships between Law and Social Economics

Social economics has long emphasized the inherent social nature of the economy, stressing that the ties that bind people together in the economy have essential effects on economic outcomes (and vice versa). Law is also a social institution that regulates and influences how people relate to each other, including its effects on economic transactions and other related social interactions. In other words, law should be an integral part of social economics, and this conference theme hopes to enhance and highlight this.

In terms of economics, law is best established within the mainstream traditions of law-and-economics. But there is a need for this paradigm, based almost solely on neoclassical economic principles, to be supplanted by a social economics outlook. There are already efforts on the part of legal scholars to question neoclassical law-and-economics (such as the law and socio-economic movement and behavioral law-and-economics) as well as areas stressing the social aspects of law (such as law-and-society). Social economics has an tremendous opportunity to contribute to this reorientation of economic thinking within the law.

For the ASE sessions at the 2014 ASSA meetings we welcome proposals for papers on all aspects of social economics, especially those dealing with the law. Possible law-related topics include:

• In what ways can social economics offer an improved economic analysis of law?
• How have social economics addressed legal issues in the past, either directly or indirectly?
• How can social economists incorporate legal concepts into their work? Many substantive topics of interest to social economists, such as inequality, poverty, and discrimination have important legal components that affect social-economic outcomes.
• What general topics in legal studies could benefit from a social economics approach? Such as:
  • Contract law (based on promise, consent, efficiency, etc.)
  • Property (individual versus collective orientation, issues of taxation, etc.)
  • Criminal punishment (justified by deterrence, retributivism, rehabilitation, etc.)
  • Judicial decision-making (based on rights, efficiency, social justice, etc.)

To submit a paper or a session, please go to the proposal submission area of the ASE website (under Conferences > ASSA > Proposal submissions). Submission deadline is April 30, 2013.

Individuals whose papers are accepted for presentation must either be or become members of the Association for Social Economics by July 1, 2013, in order for the paper to be included in the program.  Membership information can be found at socialeconomics.org.

All papers presented at the ASSA meetings are eligible for the Warren Samuels Prize, awarded to the best paper that advances the goals of social economics and has widespread appeal. Papers can also be considered for a special issue of the Forum for Social Economics. Details of these opportunities will be sent to authors of accepted papers.

Call for abstracts: Pro-Social Strategies for Public Welfare (The Role of Social Capital and Trust)

Mark D. White

Pro-Social Strategies for Public Welfare: The Role of Social Capital and Trust

Panel/Stream Proposal for IIPPE Fourth Annual Conference in Political Economy, International Institute for Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands July 9-11, 2013

Dr. Luca Andriani, Birkbeck College University of London, UK

Dr. Asimina Christoforou, Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece

 

The Fourth International Conference in Political Economy will take place in The Hague (The Netherlands) July 9-11, 2013. The conference theme is “Activism and Alterative Economic Strategies” in light of the on-going economic and political crisis (for details, please consult IIPPE’s new website at http://iippe.org/wp/).

As members of the IIPPE social capital working group, we propose a panel on “Pro-social Strategies for Public Welfare: The Role of Social Capital and Trust”. In the past decades, state and market institutions have failed to deliver redistribution and welfare in both developing and high-income geopolitical contexts, particularly after the global economic crisis broke out. This induced agents to engage in short-term, self-oriented strategies either to consolidate their power or salvage a subsistence level of living, which impedes collective action for social reform and the promotion of long-term public benefits. Nonetheless, and in response to deeper recession, social upheaval and political instability, there are collective efforts for social awareness and mobilisation to confront immediate problems of destitution and to reclaim people’s right to a quality of life.

In this sense, the panel aims to open a constructive discussion on the role of social capital and trust in building pro-social strategies for public welfare. We ask how norms and networks of cooperation, reciprocity and trust could facilitate – or hinder – a wider range of pro-social strategies, which could include, but are not limited to:

• active social and political participation to deal with the democratic deficit of both the developed and developing world;
• assessing events of corruption associated not only with the effects and motives of rent-seeking behaviour and tax evasion, but also with the imperspicuous transactions of powerful economic and political groups;
• advocacy and redistributive functions of non-governmental organisations and voluntary associations that represent disadvantaged groups and fight for their needs and rights;
• activities of social enterprises and cooperatives that provide alternative ways of production, based on general-interest objectives and innovative forms of democratic participation of
  stakeholders, workers and investors.

We welcome works that derive from various social science disciplines and use different units of analysis (individual, regional, country or cross-country level), methodologies and techniques (theoretical, empirical, qualitative and quantitative).

Abstracts (500 words maximum) should be submitted by the 10^th of February 2013 to: Luca Andriani (luca.andriani@bbk.ac.uk) and/or Asimina Christoforou (asimina.christoforou@gmail.com)

Call for papers: Economics-and-ethics at the 2013 Eastern Economic Association meetings

Mark D. White

[This is a repost of the call for papers for the Association for Social Ecnomics sessions at next spring's Eastern Economic Association meetings, emphasizing that papers on economics-and-ethics are particularly welcome.]

* * *

Submissions are now open for the Association for Social Economics sessions at the 2013 Eastern Economic Association meetings, being held in New York City from May 9-11, 2013. (Note the date: EEA meetings are normally in late February or early March, but had to be scheduled later for 2013.) Please visit the link above for more details regarding the meetings.

Individual papers (as well as organized sessions) on any topic related to social economics are welcome. As usual, proposals dealing with economics and ethics are particularly encouraged. All whose proposals are accepted must register for the conference but do not have to pay the paper submission fee.

Please email Professor Mark D. White (profmdwhite@hotmail.com) with your proposal (or any questions about the meetings) by November 15.

World Congress Summer School in Social Economics – Applications for Fellowships Now Open

Jonathan B. Wight

Glasgow, Scotland

June 19-20, 2012

 

Applications for Fellowships Now Open

The Association for Social Economics announces an exciting Summer School workshop for graduate students and recent Ph.D.s. to be held in conjunction with the World Congress of Social Economics in Glasgow, Scotland.  Between 12-18 fellows will be selected to attend the Summer School as guests of ASE. The Summer School begins the evening of June 19 and continues on June 20, 2012.  The World Congress opens the evening of June 20 and concludes on June 22, 2012.

Aims:  The Summer School brings together a small group of fellows to discuss the central concerns of social economics as a springboard for cutting-edge research and teaching.  Social economics is centrally concerned with questions of social, cultural and ethical values in economic life and the study of these questions at philosophical, theoretical, empirical and policy-related levels.

School topics include aspects of: (1) Social economics, the history of economic thought, and frameworks for thinking about ethics and economics; (2) core topics in social-economics research (theory of the individual, the role of social and cultural values in economic life, inequality, poverty, needs, capabilities, social justice, human flourishing); (3) contemporary topics and empirical research in social economics (the social economy/third sector, social networks, fair trade, socially responsible consumption and production, experimental work on fairness, etc.); and (4) publishing outlets and strategies for graduate students and recent Ph.D.s. 

Eligibility:  Fellows must be graduate students or recent Ph.D.s in economics or related fields. 

Awards:  Fellows accepted to the Summer School will receive complementary room and meals for the Summer School and the World Congress, complementary registration to the World Congress, plus all Summer School materials, a package worth up to $1,400.  Some travel stipends are also available on a competitive basis. 

Fellow Obligations:  Accepted fellows must become members of ASE and submit a Summer School refundable deposit of $100 (that will be returned upon completion of the World Congress).  All fellows must commit to participating in all sessions of the Summer School and to staying for the entire World Congress. 

Program: Click here for the Provisional Program

Applications: Click here for the Application Instructions and Form

Or, go to the ASE website (socialeconomics.org/), click on "Conferences" à "World Congress Summer School" à to see the Overview, Preliminary Program, and Application.

The application deadline is March 1, 2012.

For questions contact Aurelie Charles, Chair, Summer School Selection Committee, at A.Charles@bath.ac.uk

Call for papers: Association for Social Economics at 2013 ASSA conference

Association for Social Economics

Call for Papers

Allied Social Science Association Annual Meeting
San Diego, California, January 4-6, 2013

THEME:  The Evolving Social Nature of Exchange

What is the social nature of exchange?  Adam Smith, for example, theorized that the desire to persuade others, rather than to profit from them, was the initial impetus for market interaction.  People trade ideas and feelings as well as goods.  Motives of benevolence, malevolence, and shared sympathy, in addition to self-interest, play motivational roles in exchange, work, and consumption. 

The Industrial Revolution dramatically enlarged the scope of goods manufactured by unknown workers and traded in anonymous global markets. The identity of the artisan shrank as the standard of living grew. Foreign currencies, commodities and stocks are sold today by computers and not by persuasion.  Yet the modern economy is not dominated by commodities and manufactured goods, rather, it is geared to providing services generally delivered by persons with identities.

For example, micro finance sweeps the world, using social capital (friendships and family) as a form of financial collateral.  Call centers in Asia train workers to speak with American accents to create fellow feeling. Modern technology promotes the formation of social networks that enrich and extend personal relationships in many ways, and degrade and trivialize them in others.  There is a resurgence of interest in homegrown markets, in which buyers interact face-to-face with local farmers and artisan-vendors.

For the ASE sessions at the 2013 ASSA meetings we welcome proposals for papers on all aspects of the evolving social nature of exchange. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Going local: Farmers' and other local markets re-personalize exchange
• Community investment as a way to re-personalize exchange
• Identity (personal and social) and exchange
• The resurgence of cities and social externalities in consumption and production
• The role of social networks in personal and business life
• Are social networks becoming commercialized and/or corrupted?
• Do global connections in exchange make markets more moral? 
• Local customs and culture as expressions of social relationships in exchange
• The nature and impact of market exchange on the institution of the family
• The evolving social nature of global exchange, institutions, and the status of women

Please electronically submit a paper title and abstract of up to 250 words to Jonathan Wight, ASE President-Elect, at jwight@richmond.edu, with the words “ASE 2012 Program” in the title. Proposals should include all authors’ names and institutional affiliations, and contact info for the corresponding author, including email address. Proposals for complete sessions are also welcome. Submission deadline is April 30, 2012.

Individuals whose papers are accepted for presentation must either be or become members of the Association for Social Economics by July 1, 2012 in order for the paper to be included in the program.  Membership information can be found at www.socialeconomics.org.

All papers presented at the ASSA meetings are eligible for the Warren Samuels Prize, awarded to the best paper that advances the goals of social economics and has widespread appeal. Papers can also be considered for a special issue of the Forum for Social Economics. Details of these opportunities will be sent to authors of accepted papers.

Call for papers: Well-being in Contemporary Society

Mark D. White

International Conference on the Philosophy and Science of Well-being and their Practical Importance

Location: University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands

Date: July 26-27, 2012

Program Chair:                 
Philip Brey (University of Twente)

Organising committee:                
Johnny Hartz Søraker (University of Twente)
Pak-Hang Wong (University of Twente)
Jan-Willem van der Rijt (University of Amsterdam)
Jelle de Boer (University of Amsterdam)

About the Conference

In recent years, well-being has enjoyed a renaissance in philosophical discussions, as well as in fields like psychology, economics, development studies and sociology. Although these approaches share a common goal – to better understand what well-being is and how it can be enhanced – these developments have led to a great diversity in philosophical and scientific approaches to the analysis of well-being. Despite the increasing amount of research, most of the work on well-being is also performed at a highly abstract level. This is especially true in philosophy, but relatively little work has been devoted to the application of theories of well-being also in other fields, in particular when it comes to an understanding of life in contemporary society. Developments such as globalization, consumerism, and the rapid innovation and use of new and emerging technologies, all exert significant impact on the well-being of people living today, and we need a better understanding of their consequences for well-being.

Contemporary society requires that well-being researchers examine these problems – and, if possible, propose solutions to address them. This international conference aims to bring together researchers from various disciplines, including, but not limited to, psychology, economics, sociology, philosophy and development studies, in order to examine the practical role of well-being in contemporary society.

Potential Topics

We are looking for contributions that examine the notion of well-being in the context of contemporary society. The conference particularly welcomes papers that employ a notion of well-being to address social, political and ethical issues in present-day society. Suggested topics for the workshop include, but are not limited to:

• Theoretical developments and approaches in the philosophy and science of well-being in relation to contemporary society, culture and life.
• Well-being in social and political philosophy and/or in policy studies
• Positive psychology (and related research fields) and its practical applicability
• New and emerging technologies and well-being
• Intercultural and interpersonal comparisons of well-being
• Reliability, validity and applicability of well-being measures
• Other specific practical issues pertaining to well-being in contemporary society

The workshop will include both invited papers and an open call for papers. For the open call, we invite extended abstracts (1500-2000 words).  Please anonymise the abstract, and include title, name and address in the accompanying email. The abstract, and any questions you may have about the conference, should be sent to wics2012@utwente.nl. Your abstract should be submitted before February 15^th 2012, and will be subject to blind peer review.

Publication

Following the conference we aim to publish the papers, subject to a blind review process, in either an edited volume or a special issue of a relevant journal. We did so successfully with our previous conference, Good Life In a Technological Age, from which select papers were published as book in the prestigious Routledge Studies in Science, Technology and Society series, and will be available in February 2012.

Important Dates

Abstract Submission Deadline: February 15. 2012
Notification of Acceptance: March 1, 2012
Conference Dates: July 26-27, 2012

Call for papers: 14th World Congress in Social Economics, "Towards an Ethical Economy and Economics"

Mark D. White

From the Social Economics Blog:

ASSOCIATION for SOCIAL ECONOMICS
 
14th WORLD CONGRESS IN SOCIAL ECONOMICS
 
CALL FOR PAPERS
 
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, June 20-22, 2012
 
"Towards an Ethical Economy and Economics"

The on-going financial crisis continues to evolve from one centered on the Western financial system to sovereign debt crisis, particularly in the Euro-zone. This has brought into sharp relief the inadequacy of standard approaches that emphasise the economy as inherently stable and the incapacity of the current economic system to address its fundamental problems. The crisis has also raised a host of ethical issues revolving around the actions of governments, the financial sector, communities, individuals, and, indeed, the economics profession. The financial crisis has further revealed the reliance on conventional notions of growth to sustain mass consumption and as a vehicle for addressing recessionary pressures, largely ignoring concerns over environmental sustainability and increasing inequalities. Social economics, with its focus on the social values and relationships that drive the market-based system, is well-placed to offer insightful analyses of the present state of economies and of economics and to offer an outlet for discussion of alternatives founded on the notion of the economy as the process of social provisioning.

See here for more details...

Call for papers: "Economics in Society: The Ethical Dimension"

Mark D. White

As announced in issue 58 of the real world economic review (December 2011), the World Economics Assocation is hosting an online conference titled "Economics in Society: The Ethical Dimension" at this location.

There have been many comments made, both within and outside the profession, about the role of economics in the recent worldwide crisis. These comments have, by and large, focused on the content of the subject, on alternative theories, on the over emphasis on formalization, and on the recent trajectory of economic thought in general. Many non-economists have also focused on the performative nature of contemporary economics in relation to issues such as the role of finance; the impact on development and on distribution within and across countries.

In general these comments amount to a criticism of the excessive narrowing of economics in terms of methodology,; content and theoretical paradigm used;  as well as criticism of its persistence in a  naïve view of human behavior, and of its apparent ideological bias.

Thus far the profession has responded in two ways: by raising the volume within its longstanding theoretical conflicts; and by engaging in a wide-ranging conversation about the ethical questions that the crisis has raised.

See the conference site for complete details.