The Collision of Economics and Ethics

The economy has become known, since the 18th century, as an autonomous and self-regulating dimension of human affairs. However, before this time, the study of money and markets largely existed as part of a reflection on ethics and justice.

This book examines how this transition came about, and considers how it affects us. It aims to reopen a discussion about the relation between ethics and social justice, on one hand, and prices and money, on the other. Economic theory, from Adam Smith to Keynes, with its shortcomings and findings, has been unable to provide a rational foundation to this idea of mechanism. Through this discussion, the book examines money and value theory, the Walrasian auctioneer, capital theory, Marx's critique, Keynes' analysis and the theory of crises. The conclusion calls for a redefinition of the role of politics, law and the state.