Integrity and the economy
Abstract
This chapter addresses a disquieting gulf.1 On the one hand there is the economics discipline in which I work, and whose core principles I teach my students. This discipline takes it as axiomatic that individuals are entirely selfish: that they pursue their own ‘self-interest unconstrained by morality’ (Milgrom and Roberts 1992). On the other hand there is our experience of everyday life, in all of its business, social and political aspects. It is clear to each of us that we nearly all act unselfishly on occasions, and, furthermore, that many aspects of the life that we live are governed by complex moral codes.