Joseph Heath's ethics for capitalists: the market failures Approach 2.0

In his latest book, Ethics for Capitalists, Joseph Heath draws on his many years of thinking about business ethics to propose, as the book’s subtitle indicates, "a systematic approach to business ethics, competition, and market failure." He develops his argument carefully, draws on a wealt...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: Mejia, Santiago (Author) ; Mass, Robert (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2025
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2025, Volume: 197, Issue: 1, Pages: 13-17
Further subjects:B Ethics for Capitalists
B Theories of Business Ethics
B Aufsatz in Zeitschrift
B Market Failures Approach
B Joseph Heath
B Theories of the firm
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:In his latest book, Ethics for Capitalists, Joseph Heath draws on his many years of thinking about business ethics to propose, as the book’s subtitle indicates, "a systematic approach to business ethics, competition, and market failure." He develops his argument carefully, draws on a wealth of interdisciplinary work, uses valuable and insightful examples, contrasts his views with important alternatives, and provides responses to compelling objections. In this review article, we argue that his book revises and sharpens many of Heath’s earlier ideas, addressing important criticisms raised against them. We highlight that the book also offers a broad macro-level framework for market design, an explanation of how current corporate governance structures fit such a framework, and concrete responses to micro-level questions about what businesses and individuals ought to do. By doing all of this, his book shifts the scope of the "market failures approach" (MFA) from what used to be a narrow focus on the obligations of professional managers to an encompassing "ethics for capitalists" that ought to guide any economic actor within a capitalistic system. Despite the many merits of his book, we conclude by discussing some concerns we have about its scope and methodology.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10551-024-05712-0