RT Article
T1 Ethical Assumptions in Economic Theory: Some Lessons from the History of Credit and Bankruptcy
JF Ethical theory and moral practice
VO 7
IS 4
SP 347
OP 360
A1 Anderson, Elizabeth
LA English
YR 2004
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1785698540
AB This paper evaluates the economic assumptions of economic theory via an examination of the capitalist transformation of creditor–debtor relations in the 18th century. This transformation enabled masses of people to obtain credit without moral opprobrium or social subordination. Classical 18th century economics had the ethical concepts to appreciate these facts. Ironically, contemporary economic theory cannot. I trace this fault to its abstract representations of freedom, efficiency, and markets. The virtues of capitalism lie in the concrete social relations and social meanings through which capital and commodities are exchanged. Contrary to laissez faire capitalism, the conditions for sustaining these concrete capitalist formations require limits on freedom of contract and the scope of private property rights.
K1 Property Rights
K1 Libertarianism
K1 Economics
K1 Credit
K1 Capitalism
K1 Bankruptcy
DO 10.1007/s10677-004-2202-7