Economic Analysis, Moral Philosophy, and Public Policy

Description

This book shows through argument and numerous policy-related examples how understanding moral philosophy can improve economic analysis, how moral philosophy can benefit from economists' analytical tools, and how economic analysis and moral philosophy together can inform public policy. Part I explores the idea of rationality and its connections to ethics, arguing that when they defend their formal model of rationality, most economists implicitly espouse contestable moral principles. Part II addresses the nature and measurement of welfare, utilitarianism and cost-benefit analysis. Part III discusses freedom, rights, equality, and justice - moral notions that are relevant to evaluating policies, but which have played little if any role in conventional welfare economics. Finally, Part IV explores work in social choice theory and game theory that is relevant to moral decision making. Each chapter includes recommended reading and discussion questions. Review: By academics for academics - Most of the references in this book are to academics writing in recent decades, thus reflecting the growth of PPE as an academic discipline but increasingly diverging from real-world application to public policy. Many of the newer models presented in this book are interesting brain twisters, but far removed from application in public policy: though examples are given they are constructed examples - indeed it's hard to see how some of these models could ever be applied to real world cases of public policy. Review: Excelente - Si buscan un libro que les introduzca a la filosofia de la economía este es el libro que necesitan. Toca los temas originales de filosofía moral (pues Adam Smith lo era) y de allí lo lleva al campo práctico con las políticas públicas.