LUBS2680
Ethics & Economics Reading List
Dr Stefan Kesting
s.kesting@leeds.ac.uk
Tutor information is taken from the Module Catalogue
- Reading List Ethics & Economics
- Core Texts and Additional Readings per Week
- Week One - Introduction to the module and assessment
- Week Two - Virtue Ethics
- Week Three - Utilitarianism
- Week Four - Neoclassical Economics & Ethics
- Week Five - Libertarianism
- Week Six - Kantian & Communitarian Ethics
- Week Seven - Capabilities Approach 1) Amartya Sen
- Week Eight - Capabilities Approach 2) Martha Nussbaum
- Week Nine - Feminist Ethics & Feminist Economics of Care
- Week Ten - Discourse Ethics and its Critics
- Week Eleven - Cosmopolitanism
- General Additional Books and Articles for the Module:
- Egalitarianism
- Journals
- Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
Reading List Ethics & Economics
Useful introductory books and articles providing an overview for the whole module:
Blackburn, Simon (2001), Ethics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press (ISBN: 978-0-19-280442-6).
Blackburn, Simon (2001), Ethics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press (ISBN: 978-0-19-280442-6).
Hausman, Daniel, McPherson, Michael and Satz, Debra (2017), Economic analysis, moral philosophy, and public policy (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (978-1-316-61088-6), in particular: table of contents, pp. vii- xii & chapter 1, "Ethics and Economics?", pp. 1-18. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Wight, Jonathan B. (2015), Ethics in Economics: An Introduction to Moral Frameworks. Stanford: Stanford University Press (978-0-8047-9453-4).
Driver, Julia (2007): Ethics: The Fundamentals. Malden, MA, Oxford and Victoria, AUS: Blackwell Publishers (978-1-4051-1154-6), in particular: table of contents, pp. v; introduction & chapter 1, pp. 1-21.
Satz, Debra (2010): Why Some Things Should Not Be For Sale: The Moral Limits of Markets. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press (978-0-19-989261-7), in particular: table of contents; introduction & chapter 4, pp. 91-112.
addittional:
Beckerman, Wilfred (2011), Economics as applied ethics : value judgements in welfare economics. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Boulding, Kenneth, E. (1969), “Economics as a Moral Science", chapter 4 in Wilfred Dolfsma and Stefan Kesting eds. (2013), Interdisciplinary Economics: Kenneth E. Boulding's engagement in the sciences, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, pp. 113-125. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Dasgupta, Partha (2005), “WHAT DO ECONOMISTS ANALYZE AND WHY: VALUES OR FACTS?” Economics and Philosophy, 21 (2), pp.221-278.
Davis, John B. (2019), “Ethics and Economics: A complex systems approach”, chapter in Mark D. White (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Ethics and Economics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. ??? Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Hirschman, Albert O. (2013), “Morality and the Social Sciences: A Durable Tension”, chapter in The Essential Hirschman, ed. Jeremy Adelman (ed.), Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, pp. 331-344.
van Staveren, Irene (2007), "Beyond Utilitarianism and Deontology: Ethics in Economics", Review of Political Economy, 19 (1), pp. 21-35, DOI: 10.1080/09538250601080776
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09538250601080776
Core Texts and Additional Readings per Week
I have organised the reading material week by week in this list. The first (and sometimes second) item are the starred core texts for each week. They are followed by additional texts relevant for the topics to be discussed in this week.
Week One - Introduction to the module and assessment
We will discuss the three basic types of ethics: virtue, deontological and consequentialist moral philosophies.
Dutt, Amitava Krishna and Wilber, Charles K. (2013),Economics and ethics : an introduction. (revised edition). Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (ISBN: 978-1-137-34755-8), chapter 3, "Approaches to Ethics and Justice, pp. 35-55. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
addittional:
see texts above in the section on introductory books.
Week Two - Virtue Ethics
Franklin, Benjamin (1941[1771]), The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Roslyn, NY: Walter J. Black, Inc., chapters: "I Spent No Time in Taverns ..." to "I Added Humility to My List ...", pp. 124-144.
addittional:
Aristotle, written c. 340 B.C., The Nicomachean Ethics, translated and introduced by W. C. Ross (Oxford University Press, London, 1959, pp. 28-29 & 261-266). Parts: "Moral Virtue, How produced" (section 2) and "The End for Human Nature" (section 47) in: Peter Singer ed. (1994), Ethics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 26-27 and pp. 185-188. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
McCloskey, Deirdre N. (2008), "Not by P Alone: A Virtuous Economy", Review of Political Economy, 20 (2), pp. 181–197.
MacIntyre, Alasdair (2007), After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, 3rd edition, Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press, chapter 14 “The Nature of Virtues”, pp. 181-203.
Week Three - Utilitarianism
Singer, Peter (1993), Practical Ethics, 2nd ed., Cambridge: Cambridge Universtity Press, chapter 11, "Ends and Means", pp. 289-313.
addittional:
Broome, John (1991). “Utility”. Economics and Philosophy, 7, pp 1-12 doi:10.1017/ S0266267100000882
Bentham, Jeremy (1948[1789]), Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, New York: Hafner, pp. 1-7 & 29-31. Part: "The Principle of Utility" (section 77) in: Peter Singer ed. (1994), Ethics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 306-312. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Harsanyi, John C. (1982): “Morality and the theory of rational behaviour”, chapter 2 in Amartya Sen and Bernard Bernstein (eds.), Utilitarianism and beyond, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 39-62.
Singer, Peter (1972), "Famine, Affluence, and Morality", Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1 (3), pp. 229-243.
Singer, Peter (1972), “Is Act-Utilitarianism Self-Defeating?” The Philosophical Review ,81 (1), pp. 94-104.
Week Four - Neoclassical Economics & Ethics
Frank, Robert (2003),What price the moral high ground? : how to succeed without selling your soul. Princeton: Princeton University Press, chapter 1, "Forging Commitments That Sustain Cooperation", pp. 3-27.
addittional:
Frank, Robert H. (1990), “A Theory of Moral Sentiments”, chapter 5 in Jane J. Mansbridge (ed.) Beyond Self-Interest, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, pp. 71-96. OCR REQUESTED BY LIBRARY (MAA 25/09/2020)
Frank, Robert H., Gilovich, Thomas and Regan, Dennis T. (1993), “Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation?” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 7 (2), pp. 159-171.
Ifcher, John and Zarghamee, Homa (2016), “The Rapid Evolution of Homo Economicus: Brief Exposure to Neoclassical Assumptions Increases Self-Interested Behavior”, IZA DP Discussion Paper Series, No. 10171, August 2016 (34 pages). Accessed 8 August 2020 from: http://ftp.iza.org/dp10171.pdf
Munro, Alice (2009), Too Much Happiness, London: Vintage Books (Penguin), chapter: “Free Radicals”, pp. 116-137. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Schelling, Tomas C. (1960), The Strategy of Conflict, Cambridge MA and London: Harvard University Press, chapter 2 “An Essay on Bargaining”, pp. 21-52. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Schelling, Tomas C. (2006), Strategies of Commitment and other essays, Cambridge MA and London: Harvard University Press, chapter 1 “Strategies of Commitment”, pp. 1-24.
Solo, Robert A. (1975), “Neoclassical Economics in Perspective”, Journal of Economic Issues, 9 (4), pp. 627-644.
Wight, Jonathan B. (2015), Ethics in Economics: An Introduction to Moral Frameworks. Stanford: Stanford University Press (978-0-8047-9453-4), chapter 4, "Welfare and Efficiency", pp. 59-76.
Week Five - Libertarianism
Schmidtz, David (1994), "The Institution of Property", Social Philosophy and Policy, 11 (2), Summer 1994, pp. 42-62 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052500004428
addittional:
Demsetz, Harold (1967), “Toward a Theory of Property Rights”, The American Economic Review, 57 (2), pp. 347-359.
Demsetz, Harold (2002), “Toward a Theory of Property Rights II: The Competition between Private and Collective Ownership”, The Journal of Legal Studies, 31 (S2), pp. S653-S672.
Dworkin, Gerald (1982), “Is More Choice Better than Less?”, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 7 (1), pp. 47-61 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4975.1982.tb00083.x
Nagel, Thomas (1975), “Review: Libertarianism without Foundations Reviewed Work(s): Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Robert Nozick”, The Yale Law Journal, 85 (1), pp. 136-149.
Nozick, Robert (1973), “Distributive Justice”, Philosophy & Public Affairs, 3 (1), pp. 45-126.
Taylor, Charles (1985), Philosophy and the Human Sciences, Philosophical Papers 2, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, chapter 8, "What's Wrong With Negative Liberty", pp. 211-229. OCR REQUESTED BY LIBRARY (MAA 25/09/2020)
Nozick, Robert (1974), Anarchy, state and utopia. New York: Basic Books.
Tugenthat, Ernst (1992), Philosophische Aufsätze, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, chapter “Libertarianism, Liberty and the Issue of Economic Human Rights“, pp. 352-370. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Week Six - Kantian & Communitarian Ethics
Lutz, Mark and Lux, Kenneth (1988), Humanistic economics : the new challenge. New York: The Bootstrap Press, chapter 6, "Beyond Rational Man: The Reasonable Person", pp. 104-127. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Etzioni, Amitai (1988), The moral dimension : toward a new economics. New York: Macmillan, chapter 1, "The New Paradigm: Underlying Themes", pp. 1-19. OCR REQUESTED BY LIBRARY (MAA 25/09/2020)
addittional:
Kant, Immanuel (1949[1785 and 1788 repectively]), The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals and Critique of Practical Reason, in Studies in The Philosophy of Kant, transl. by L. W. Beck, Chicago: Chicago University Press, pp. 55-63, pp. 80-87, pp. 180-186 and pp. 346-349. OCR REQUESTED BY LIBRARY (MAA 25/09/2020)
Parts: "Pure Practical Reason and the Moral Law" (section 34), "The Categorical Imperative" (section 73) and "On a Supposed Right to Lie from Altruistic Reasons" (section 74), in: Peter Singer ed. (1994), Ethics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 123-131 & pp. 274-281. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Brennan, Geoffrey and Buchanan, James M. (1985), The reason of rules: constitutional political economy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, chapter 5 “Time, temptation, and the constrained future”, pp. 67-81. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Etzioni, Amitai (1988), The moral dimension : toward a new economics. New York: Macmillan, chapter 12 “Encapsulated Competition”, pp. 199-216. OCR REQUESTED BY LIBRARY (MAA 25/09/2020)
Taylor, Charles (1985), Philosophy and the Human Sciences, Philosophical Papers 2, Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press, chapter 12 “Kant’s Theory of Freedom”, pp. 318-337. OCR REQUESTED BY LIBRARY (MAA 25/09/2020)
Week Seven - Capabilities Approach 1) Amartya Sen
Sen, Amartya (1992), Inequality Reexamined, New York:Russel Sage Foundation and London: Clarendon Press, chapter 3, "Functionings and Capability" and chapter 4, "Freedom, Agency and Well-Being, pp. 39-72.
addittional:
Prendergast, Renee (2005), “The concept of freedom and its relation to economic development—a critical appreciation of the work of Amartya Sen”, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 29 (6), pp. 1145–1170, doi:10.1093/cje/bei081
Robeyns, Ingrid (2003), SEN'S CAPABILITY APPROACH AND GENDER INEQUALITY: SELECTING RELEVANT CAPABILITIES, Feminist Economics, 9 (2-3), pp. 61-92, DOI: 10.1080/1354570022000078024
Sen, Amartya (1985), “Well-Being, Agency and Freedom: The Dewey Lectures 1984”, The Journal of Philosophy, 82 (4), pp. 169-221.
Sen, Amartya (1987), On Ethics and Economics, Basil Blackwell, chapter 3 “Freedom and Consequences”, pp. 58-79. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Sen, Amartya (1995), Inequality Reexamined, New York: Russel Sage Foundation and Oxford: Clarendon Press, chapter 1 “Equality of What?”, pp. 12-30.
Sen, Amartya (2009), The idea of justice. London: Allen Lane, Penguin Books.
Week Eight - Capabilities Approach 2) Martha Nussbaum
Nussbaum, Martha (2000), Women and human development : the capabilities approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Introduction, section IV "Two Women Trying To Flourish", chapter 1, "In Defense of Universal Values", section IV "Central Human Capabilities", section V "Functioning and Capability" and section VI "Capabilities and Human Rights", pp. 15-24 and pp. 70-101.
addittional:
Nussbaum, Martha C. (2011), Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach, Cambridge, MA and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, chapter 3 “A Necessary Counter-Theory”, pp. 46-68.
Week Nine - Feminist Ethics & Feminist Economics of Care
Mansbridge, Jane (ed.) (1990), Beyond self-interest. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, Virginia Held: chapter 18, "Mothering versus Contract", pp. 287-305. OCR REQUESTED BY LIBRARY (MAA 25/09/2020)
Nelson, Julie A. (1996), Feminism, objectivity and economics. London and New York: Routledge, chapter 5, "Towards a Feminist Theory of the Family", pp. 60-77.
addittional:
England, Paula (2003), "Separative and Soluble Selves: Dichotomous Thinking in Economics", chapter 1 in Marianne A. Ferber and Julie A. Nelson (eds.), Feminist Economics Today: Beyond Economic Man, Chicago and London: The Chicago University Press, pp. 33-59. OCR REQUESTED BY LIBRARY (fad 24/08/2021)
Folbre, Nancy (2001), The Invisible Heart - Economics and Family Values, New York: The New Press, chapter 2 "The Care Penalty", pp. 22-52. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Held, Virginia (2006), The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, and Global, Oxford et al.: Oxford University Press, chapter 7 "Care and the Extension of Markets", pp. 107-124.
Held, Virginia (1993), Feminist Morality - Transforming Culture, Society, and Politics, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Nelson, Julie A. (2006), Economics for Humans, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, chapter 4 "Love and Money? The Question of Indivitual Motivation", pp. 63-86. OCR REQUESTED BY LIBRARY (MAA 25/09/2020)
Nelson, Julie (1996), Feminism, objectivity and economics, add chapter 1 “Thinking about Gender and Value”, pp. 3-19. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Marcal, Katerine (2016): Who cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner – A Story of Women and Economics, New York: Pegasus Books.
Criado Perez, Caroline (2019): Invisible Women – Exposing data bias is a world designed for men, London: Chatto & Windus
Week Ten - Discourse Ethics and its Critics
Habermas, Jürgen. 2018: Philosophical Introductions - Five Approaches to Communicative Action, Cambridge, UK and Medford, US: Polity Press, chapter 3 "Discourse Ethics", pp. 100-121. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Joas, Hans and Knoebl, Wolfgang (2011), Social Theory: Twelve Introductory Lectures, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, chapter X "Habermas' 'theory of communicative action', pp. 222-248.
Butler, Judith (2004), Undoing Gender, New York and London: Routledge, chapter 10 "The Question of Social Transformation" , pp. 204-231.
addittional:
Butler, Judith (1993), Bodies That Matter: On the discursive limits of "sex", chapter 4 "Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion", pp. 121-140.
Habermas, Jürgen (1989), The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. 2 Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason, translated by Thomas McCarthy, Boston: Beacon Press, chapter 3 “The Tasks of Critical Theory”, pp. 374-403. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Kesting, Stefan (2010), Boulding's welfare approach of communicative deliberation, Ecological Economics, 69, pp. 973–977.
Kesting, Stefan (1998), A Potential for Understanding and the Interference of Power: Discourse as an Economic Mechanism of Coordination, Journal of Economic Issues, 32 (4), pp. 1053-1078.
Tugendhat, Ernst (1992), Philosophische Aufsätze, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Verlag, chapter: "Habermas on Communicative Action", pp. 433-440. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Week Eleven - Cosmopolitanism
Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2006), Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, London et al.: Penguin Books, Introduction "Making Conversation" and chapter 10 "Kindness to Strangers", pp. ix-xix and pp.155-174 and pp.181-182 (for relevant endnotes). Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
addittional:
Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2017), As If: Idealization and Ideals, Harvard University Press, chapter 3 "Political Ideals: Lessons from John Rawls", pp. 112-174.
Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2016), The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity, London: Peoples Books (based on his Reid Lectures for the BBC).
Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2010), The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen, New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, chapter 3 "Suppressing Atlantic Slavery", pp. 101-136 and pp. 235-238 (for the relevant footnotes). Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2008): Experiments in Ethics, London and Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2005), The Ethics of Identity, Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2003), Thinking it Through: An Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy, Oxford et al.: Oxford University Press, chapter 5 "Morality", pp. 177-219.
Baldwin, James (1998): Collected Essays, New York: The Library of America, Notes of a Native Son, pp. 63-84. OCR REQUESTED BY LIBRARY (GW 08/12/2020)
Hirschman, Albert O. and Bird Richard M. (1968), "Foreign Aid: A Critique and a Proposal", Princeton Essays in International Finance, 69 (30 pages), reprinted in: Hirschman, Albert O. (1971), A Bias for Hope: Essays on Development and Latin America, New Haven: Yale University Press. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Miller, Richard W. (1998), "Cosmopolitan Respect and Patriotic Concern", Philosophy and Public Affairs, 27 (3), pp. 202-224.
Sibley, Robert (2000), "Globalization and Meaning of Canadian Life", Canadian Review of Books, 28 (8-9), pp. ?
General Additional Books and Articles for the Module:
Akerlof, George A. (1982), "Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange", The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 97 (4), pp. 543-569.
Konow, James (2003), "Which Is the Fairest One of All? A Positive Analysis of Justice Theories", Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. XLI (December), pp. 1188–1239.
Rawls, John (1971), A Theory of Justice. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
Sandel, Michael (2012), What money can't buy : the moral limits of markets. London: Allen Lane, Penguin Books, chapter 3 "How Markets Crowd Out Morals", pp.?. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Skidelsky, Robert and Skidelsky, Edward (2012), How much is enough? : the love of money and the case for the good life. London: Allen Lane, Penguin Books, chapter 6 "Elements of the Good Life", pp. 145-179. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Egalitarianism
Anderson, Elizabeth S. (1999), “What Is the Point of Equality?” Ethics, 109 (2), pp. 287-337.
Dworkin, Ronald (1981), “What is Equality? Part 1: Equality of Welfare”, Philosophy & Public Affairs, 10 (3), pp. 185-246.
Dworkin, Ronald (1981), “What is Equality? Part 2: Equality of Resources”, Philosophy & Public Affairs, 10 (4), pp. 283-345.
Dworkin, Ronald (1987), “What Is Equality? Part 3: The Place of Liberty”, Iowa Law Review, 73 (1), pp. 1-54. MARSHALL P. MADISON LECTURE
Dworkin, Ronald (1987-1988), “What Is Equality? Part 4: Political Equality”, University of San Francisco Law Review, 22 (1), pp. 1-30.
Frankfurt, Harry G. (1999), Necessity, Volition, and Love, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, chapter 13 “Equality and Respect”, pp. 146-154. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Frankfurt, Harry G. (1988), The importance of what we care about: Philosophical essays, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, chapter 11 “Equality as a moral ideal”, pp. 134-158. Available as an Online Course Reading in Minerva
Okun, Arthur (1975), Equality and efficiency : the big tradeoff. Washington: The Brookings Institution.
Parfit, Derek (2012), “Another Defence of the Priority View”, Utilitas, 24 (3), pp. 399-440.
Parfit, Derek (1997), “EQUALITY AND PRIORITY”, Ratio (new series). X (3), pp.202-221.
Stiglitz, Joseph (2012), The price of inequality, London: Allen Lane, Penguin Books.
Journals
The journal of economic perspectives.
The journal of economic literature.
Review of Socio-Economics
Other heterodox journals
Journal of institutional economics.
eThe American journal of economics and sociology.
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
Copies of lecture notes and/or other resources are available from the module area on the University’s VLE.
This list was last updated on 29/11/2021