Kim Hawtrey and Rutherford Johnson
Journal of Religion and Business Ethics
Abstract
The Global Financial Crisis - and its human toll - can be attributed to an atypical pandemic of morally sourced market failure. This paper develops a ‘moral bubble’ understanding of the sub-prime crisis, in which ethical decision-making by economic actors is marked by expediency and crowd effects. The paper revisits Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments and shows Smith’s theory offers a helpful corrective to the ethical atrophy behind the recent credit crisis. The need to safeguard the 'soft' (moral) infrastructure of markets has significant implications for business decision-makers, for public policy, and for the role of Christian belief in society.
The Global Financial Crisis - and its human toll - can be attributed to an atypical pandemic of morally sourced market failure. This paper develops a ‘moral bubble’ understanding of the sub-prime crisis, in which ethical decision-making by economic actors is marked by expediency and crowd effects. The paper revisits Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments and shows Smith’s theory offers a helpful corrective to the ethical atrophy behind the recent credit crisis. The need to safeguard the 'soft' (moral) infrastructure of markets has significant implications for business decision-makers, for public policy, and for the role of Christian belief in society.
Hawtrey, Kim and Johnson, Rutherford (2010) "On the Atrophy of Moral Reasoning in the Global Financial Crisis," Journal of Religion and Business Ethics: Vol. 1, Article 4. Available at: http://via.library.depaul.edu/jrbe/vol1/iss2/4
