Good Topic - Falls Short of Aim, August 6, 2010 By Doug Norton - See all my reviews This review is from: Moral Markets: The Critical Role of Values in the Economy
Economists gravitate toward explanation by incentives; but, values also constitute motivations for action. The premise of this book was to investigate the values-based explanations and demonstrate the "Critical Role of Values in the Economy". Sadly, if that was the aim of this book it was a disappointment. While the diversity of disciplines provides alternative perspective on values (their transmission, acceptance, evolutionary basis) the feel of the whole book is disjointed. There were, however, a few bright spots amidst several misguided articles. The particulars of the basis for my critique are below, but, overall I would still recommend the book as a first cut at a discussion about morality and markets. […]
This book on "the critical role of values" pursues only evolutionary explanations of values and disregards the role of religion in values formation. Sometimes this disregard is not merely from absence but is rather flippant. For example, Goodenough writes, "Where does the capacity for such internal commitments come from? Some look to religion, and indeed a divine, designing power would have good reason as a matter of mechanism design to put such a capacity into humans, a gift as essential to their eventual well-being as sight and locomotion. But such a divine gift is not the province of science; we rely on that wonderful mechanism for bootsrapping adaptive design: evolution." Not a peep about religion and the formation of values. What makes this more interesting is that this project was funded by the Templeton Foundation! […]
There is a sense that some of the authors begrudgingly admit that markets are overall a "good thing". This is captured well in Charles Handy's final chapter ". . . the urgent question now is how best to retain the energy produced by the old model without its flaws."
The authors are willing to admit that capitalism provides a dynamic environment in which innovation is allowed with greater incentive, but, they seem reluctant to embrace the outcomes of capitalism. One might think that the authors would say, "Yes, indeed we are reluctant to embrace capitalism ---look at all the cowboys out there screwing everything up!" (this book was being written in the midst of all the financial scandals). But, what is the alternative? More regulation?
The reliance of government would present plenty of public choice problems. Then, we must point to the importance of values in the political process! The critique is meant to elucidate the fact that human beings are flawed people and since humans comprise government, business, and other organizational structures those same problems will persist in all contexts unless values are strong.
The authors are willing to admit that capitalism provides a dynamic environment in which innovation is allowed with greater incentive, but, they seem reluctant to embrace the outcomes of capitalism. One might think that the authors would say, "Yes, indeed we are reluctant to embrace capitalism ---look at all the cowboys out there screwing everything up!" (this book was being written in the midst of all the financial scandals). But, what is the alternative? More regulation?
The reliance of government would present plenty of public choice problems. Then, we must point to the importance of values in the political process! The critique is meant to elucidate the fact that human beings are flawed people and since humans comprise government, business, and other organizational structures those same problems will persist in all contexts unless values are strong.
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