Ethics and Markets

Competition and co-operation are usually considered to be incompatible within the market economy. Can co-operation among firms, individuals and groups mean anything other than restricting competitive forces? Is there any place for values and ethics in the pursuit of economic efficiency? This volume brings together a range of disciplinary approaches. Philosophical approaches are taken by Jonathan Boswell, who demonstrates the way in which Christian democracy and Catholic social thought contributed to the place of ethics within modern continental European economies; and Russell Keat, who discusses the moral boundaries of the market. More empirical, sociological discussion is provided by Ronald Dore on the Japanese approach to co-operative capitalism, and Colin Crouch on the German model. At a more detailed, practical level, Judith Marquand considers the place of values and co-operation in vocational training policy; while David Norman looks at the effect on trade unions of new managerial techniques of human resource management; and Keith Middlemas looks at the dynamic of co-operative behaviour within the informal politics of the European Community.
Finally, Will Hutton asks: "Whither global capitalism?"; David Miliband considers the implications of the variety within modern capitalism for contemporary politics; Geoff Mulgan looks at the place of values and institutions now that we seem to have moved decisively "beyond the mixed economy".