The approaches to economic ethics and business ethics in Continental Europe and those in America show considerable differences but also a shared interest in turning business ethics into a subject relevant and useful for business practice as well as for the philosophical debate on ethics. The volume collects original essays on the major approaches to economic ethics and business ethics in Germany, the USA, and Europe. It provides the reader with a comprehensive overview about the discussion on modern economic ethics and business ethics. It introduces the German approaches to economic ethics and to business ethics to the English-speaking audience.

Comprising cutting-edge work on the state of social economics today, this theoretically diverse book includes strong emphasis on the role of ethics, morality, identity, and society in economic theorizing. Much existing economic theory overlooks ethics. Rather than situating the market and values at separate extremes of a continuum, Ethics and the Market contends that the two are necessarily and intimately related. This volume brings together some of the best work in the social economics tradition, with strong contributions and pedagogy, and a cross-national blend of economics, philosophy, and policy. The contributors embed the economic within the social, rather than viewing 'the economy' and 'society' as separable spheres of life activity, and in so doing, three key themes are illuminated, corresponding to the volume's tripartite structure: Morality and Markets Redefining the Boundaries of Economics Social Economics in Transition. Ethics and the Market illuminates the diverse and dynamic theoretical approaches that are employed in social economics, reflecting on their continuously evolving relationship with neoclassical economics. Taking an innovative approach, this integrative book challenges traditional ways of thinking, and will prove vital reading for students and academics in the fields of Economics, Sociology, Gender Studies, and Public Policy.

This book is a fundamental and unique masterpiece which reflects the discussions on business and economic ethics over decades in German-speaking countries, and does so by systematically developing an Ethics of Economic Systems from a Christian-theological perspective with a firm foundation in the western philosophical and economic literature. Neither in German-speaking nor English-speaking regions has this complex theme been dealt with in such a comprehensive and thorough manner. Ethics is a matter of doing justice to the human without twisting the facts and ignoring the constraints. The study introduces seven criteria of human justice, that fundamentally relate to the Christian revelation and, at the same time, establish a humanistic and universal approach. Subsequently it focuses on the concrete economic systems and their problems. It describes and analyses various models of market and centrally-planned economies, and evaluates them in the light of middle-level principles, which are informed by both ethical criteria and economic knowledge. Thus the most legitimate economic system is the one which offers the most potential for reforms and self-critique. The merits of this approach are considerable: if the system of the market economy has the advantage of being thoroughly reformable, it also requires regulations which are equitable and responsible. In this view, one better understands the inescapable failure of Marxism but also the ethical ramifications of savage deregulations. Arthur Rich (1910-1992) was Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of the Institute of Social Ethics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He worked in the field of business and economic ethics for nearly 40 years. Georges Enderle is Arthur and Mary O'Neil Professor of International Business Ethics at the Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame (Indiana, USA), and President of the International Society of Business, Economics, and Ethics (2001-2004), which organizes the ISBEE World Congress of Business and Economic Ethics every four years.