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The Ethics Behind Efficiency, Jonathan B. Wight
The Ethics Behind Efficiency, Jonathan B. Wight
Economics Faculty Publications
The normative elements underlying efficiency are more complex than generally portrayed, and rely upon ethical frameworks that are generally absent from classroom discussions. Most textbooks, for example, ignore the ethical differences between Pareto efficiency (based on voluntary win-win outcomes) and the modern Kaldor-Hicks efficiency used in public policy assessments (in which winners gain more than losers lose). For the latter to be ethically palatable, society must have in place basic institutions of justice, transparency, and accountability. Normative economics thus requires a pluralist approach that includes considerations of virtue and duty, closer to Adam Smith’s Enlightenment conceptions. This surprising finding should …
Group Analytics In Adam Smith's Work, David M. Levy, Sandra J. Peart
Group Analytics In Adam Smith's Work, David M. Levy, Sandra J. Peart
Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications
The link between occupation and character began with David Hume and extended by Adam Smith in service to their attack on the doctrine of innate national character. Worker's awareness of the relative approbative rewards to occupation is central to Smith's competitive labor market equilibrium. When the division of labor is extended by growth, the variance of character increases. With this insight Smith was able to offer a race-blind theory of civilization, something that escaped even Hume. 19th century anthropological focus on the variance of character can be seen as a racialization of Smith's work.