Jonathan Wight
I’ve compiled a list over the years of Nobel prize winners who’ve shown a willingness to engage in a discussion about ethics and economics. Merely engaging is to be applauded—when this subject is so often considered taboo.
My list is below—but I'm sure it needs editing. Who would like to add or make corrections? Thanks!
THE LIST:
• Paul Samuelson (1970)
– Altruism can exist independent of self-interest.
• Kenneth Arrow (1972)
– Virtues play a significant role in the operation of the economic system, particularly when there is asymmetric information.
• Gunner Myrdal (1974)
–
Race relations and equity in development
• F.A. Hayek (1974)
– Social order depends upon complex ethical regularities – which for the most part we do not understand and hence we underestimate.
• Milton Friedman (1976)
– No society can be stable unless its citizens accept basic core values and institutions. These values and institutions must be accepted without reliance on instrumental, cost-benefit calculations.
• Herbert Simon (1978)
– Bounded rationality and “docility” unite to make ethical constructs successful.
• James Buchanan (1986)
–
Individual behavior
is morally-ethically constrained.
–
The standard
cost-benefit reckoning (consequentialist) is not operative in this realm.
• Robert Solow (1987)
–
Intergenerational
justice and sustainability concerns should be addressed
• Robert Fogel (1993)
–
Religious ethics
promote social reforms (e.g., abolition of slavery).
–
The
redistribution of spiritual resources is key concern for next generation (sense
of purpose, self discipline, work ethic, thirst for knowledege).
• Reinhardt Selten (1994)
–
Evolutionary game
theory
• Amartya Sen (1998)
–
The strict
dichotomy between normative and positive economics is false.
–
The neoclassical
utility maximization model is seriously deficient.
–
Role of
commitment to others and to principles [Railway story]
• Daniel Kahneman (2002):
–
Psychology, bounded
rationality, and concern for fairness (e.g., ethics?) permeates many economic
relationships.
• Elinor Ostrom (2009):
–
Governance in local
communities to solve tragedy of commons problems
Great job, Jonathan! Wonderful idea too - let's hope the list deepens (and even widens).
Posted by: Mark D. White | October 17, 2009 at 07:56 PM
Vernon Smith on the Two Faces of Adam Smith and the importance of reciprocity for human action?
Posted by: sandra j peart | October 17, 2009 at 08:39 PM