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Markets and Morality

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Jagdish N. Bhagwati, Markets and Morality, 101 AM. ECON. REV. 162 (2011).
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American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 2011, 101:3, 162–165
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.101.3.162

Markets and Morality

By Jagdish Bhagwati*

It is common knowledge that Adam Smith, against John Maynard Keynes, the punch
the acknowledged father of Economics as line was that Keynes held the two opinions).
we know it, had written The Theory of Moral Douglas A. Irwin (1989, p. 45) has recalled
Sentiments (1759) before he wrote The Wealth how Sir Robert Peel, who repealed the Corn
of Nations (1776). More sophisticated students Laws in 1848 to usher in unilateral free trade in
of Economics today would also know that Adam England, lamented, despite his love of “politi-
Smith held the Chair in Moral Philosophy from cal economy” (as Economics was called then),
1752, after a year as Professor of Logic, at that Peel found only confusion and dissension
Glasgow University. Therefore, that Economics among the leading economists of the day on the
has evolved from moral philosophy, and has Corn Laws’ effect on wages, profits and rents:
affinity by birth with it and therefore is a moral
science, should not surprise anyone. “The very heads of Colonel Torrens’s
Yet, the analysis of the interaction between chapters are enough to fill with dismay
Economics and moral philosophy, or perhaps the bewildered inquirer after truth. These
simply morality, has raised interesting issues are literally these—‘Erroneous views
of Adam Smith respecting the value of
over time. In the following, I concentrate on a Corn’, ‘Erroneous doctrine of the French
few salient ones today. economists respecting the value of raw
produce’, ‘Errors of Mr. Ricardo and his
I.  Positive and Normative Analyses followers on the subject of rent’, ‘Errors
of Mr. Malthus respecting the nature of
First, if Economics is to advance the public rent’, ‘Refutation of the doctrines of Mr.
good, we must have two prior conditions satisfied: Malthus respecting the wage of labour.’”
we must have scientifically compelling “positive”
economic analysis and we must have an agreed The normative leg of Economics, coming
yardstick, what we call “normative” criteria, with more directly from moral philosophy, has been
which we use that positive analysis to choose generally based on utilitarianism from the time
public policy that advances the public good. of Jeremy Bentham (1776, 1780). While this
The former task has been the main reason has generally meant that economists typically
why Economics branched out as a separate dis- work with social utility functions whose argu-
cipline from moral philosophy whose principal ments are goods and services, there have been
preoccupation naturally was with the latter task. important qualifications. In particular, we owe
Economics has been evolving continually, of to Roy Harrod, the pioneer with Evsey Domar
course, in its main task of illuminating the work- of growth economics and biographer of Keynes,
ing of the economy. the extension to “process utilitarianism,” which
That it is essential before normative analysis says that we derive utility not merely from out-
does not mean, of course, that it can unambigu- comes but also from the process by which we
ously help the policymaker. Thus, recall the reach the outcome. Thus, many find it distaste-
famous witticism that if there are six ­economists, ful to have a market for adopting babies even
there are seven opinions (and, when directed though it may produce an efficient outcome;
and I have noted in Bhagwati (1998) that Judge
* Council on Foreign Relations, 58 East 68th Street, Richard Posner’s advocacy of such a market
New York, NY 10021 (e-mail: [email protected]; jb38@ may well cost him a seat on the Supreme Court.
columbia.edu). Note: there were no Discussants. Professor Again, international economists such as Harry
Benjamin Friedman (Harvard University) organized the ses-
sion. Other authors were Robert Shiller (Yale University),
Johnson, T. N. Srinivasan, and myself have
Ben Friedman (Harvard University), and Tony Atkinson actually dealt with “noneconomic objectives,”
(University of Oxford). where we modify the utility function also to
162
VOL. 101 NO. 3 Markets and Morality 163

i­ncorporate s­ elf-sufficiency and a target level of Indeed, Adam Smith’s paradoxical demon-
import-competing production to figure out the stration that private greed would produce public
best ways to arrive at optimal policies. good, under the conditions of the marketplace,
I might add that to get public policy, and hence was what gave him the recognition that all para-
the pursuit of the public good, right, the policy- doxes that overturn conventional wisdom will
maker has to get both the positive and normative produce. In the same way, any claim that altru-
elements right. Thus, I have argued in Bhagwati ism would be beneficial will sink into oblivion.
(2007) that the philosopher Peter Singer of But if you demonstrate instead that “the road
Princeton University gets foreign aid policy to hell is paved with good intentions,” that will
wrong, not because he is a utilitarian, which I give you fame!
believe is a correct welfare criterion, but because But the notion that markets, promoted by
he gets his economic analysis wrong by buying Adam Smith and by his demonstration of the
into the technocratic notion, advanced by econo- paradox of self-interest, would undermine
mists such as Jeffrey Sachs who wrongly dismiss morality, was a different, if related, objection.
concerns about the efficacy of aid as reactionary It has in fact proven remarkably resilient. It has
and reprehensible instead of confronting them in fact been revived with gusto by opponents of
with evidence and argumentation, that aid is markets and mainstream Economics after the
­necessarily ameliorative of poverty. Good policy current financial and macroeconomic crisis. The
has to walk on both legs, positive and normative, filmmaker Oliver Stone who produced the 1987
and both have to be sound and strong. film, Wall Street, which immortalized Gordon
Gekko as the symbol of markets and greed, has
II. Economics, Self-Interest, and Morality produced a 2010 sequel, Wall Street: Money
Never Sleeps.
Economics has also been handicapped by Interestingly, the Seven Deadly Sins, immor-
the notion that it deals with self-interest when, talized in 1933 in the Paris production of
in fact, as even Adam Smith recognized in the Brecht’s ballet composed and directed by Kurt
Theory of Moral Sentiments, man does not live Weill and choreographed by George Balanchine,
by self-interest alone. In fact, as Rabbi Hillel have never put Greed at the top of any of the
remarked, “If I am not for myself, who will be? many lists compiled; but the current crisis seems
And if I am not for others, who am I?” So, why to have elevated it to the pride of place!
is Economics concentrated on self-interest as the But is it really plausible to assert that markets
driver for economic analysis? undermine morality? I have argued, in Bhagwati
One defense has been to argue, as did (2009), that I find the notion that markets cor-
Sir Dennis Robertson of the University of rupt our morals, and determine our ethical des-
Cambridge, that Economics deals with man’s tiny, to be a vulgar quasi-Marxist notion about
“basest motive,” self-interest, to devise an insti- as plausible as the other vulgar notion that own-
tutional framework which would lead those ership of the means of production is critical to
who work from self-interest to produce public our economic destiny. The idea that working
good. This is indeed how Adam Smith him- with and within markets fuels our pursuit of self-
self described what he had done, showing how interest is surely at variance with what we know
people producing for private profit would none- about ourselves.
theless be guided by the Invisible Hand of the Yes, markets will influence values. But, more
market to desirable outcomes. importantly, the values we acquire elsewhere
Given the centuries-old Christian tradition determine how we behave in the marketplace.
which deprecated self-interest or greed or self- The Dutch burghers used their wealth from com-
love in ascending orders of moral turpitude, merce to exercise what I call Personal Social
this was a remarkable turnaround and would Responsibility: they spent the moneys they
lay the groundwork for many such as Voltaire, made, not on themselves, but on good works.
most eloquently in 1734, to celebrate the work- The Jains of Gujerat (from whom Mahatma
ing of markets as conducive to public good, as Gandhi drew his inspiration) did likewise.
beautifully discussed by the historian Jerry Z. Again, the Belgian economist Andre Sapir has
Muller (2002) in his classic work on capitalism argued that there are different forms of ­capitalism
in Western thought. in the world today, reflecting d­ ifferent cultures
164 AEA PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS MAY 2011

and values. The Scandinavians have an approach Again, it is interesting to observe that John
to capitalism that differs from that in the United Stuart Mill (1848) argued for a favorable moral
States, for example: the former is more egalitarian impact from markets via the freeing of inter-
in outcomes whereas the latter is more focused on national commerce (which, in fact, was also
ensuring equal opportunity. So, where do we get central to the evolution of Economics since anti-
our values and how do we confront the phenome- mercantilism was at the heart of The Wealth of
non of Bernard Madoff and others? I have argued Nations, and indeed to John Locke’s earlier writ-
in Bhagwati (2008, 2009) that: ings). Thus witness his forthright argument:

“[Our] values come from our families, “The economical advantages of com-
communities, schools, churches, and merce are unsurpassed in importance by
indeed from our religion and literature. those of its effects, which are intellectual
My own exposure to the conflicts of abso- and moral. It is hardly possible to over-
lute values came initially from reading rate the value, in the present low state of
Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, human improvement, of placing human
wherein Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladov beings in contact with persons dissimilar
turns to prostitution to support her family. to themselves, and with modes of thought
My love of the environment came from and action unlike those with which they
reading Yasunari Kawabata’s famous are familiar … There is no nation which
novel, The Old Capital, which purports a does not need to borrow from others, not
harmony between man and nature, rather merely particular arts or practices, but
than the traditional Christian belief that essential points of character with which
nature must serve man.” its own type is inferior … It may be said
without exaggeration that the great extent
How does one react then to a phenomenon like and rapid increase in international trade,
in being the principal guarantee of the
Bernie Madoff? Does it not represent the corro- peace of the world, is the great permanent
sion of moral values in the marketplace? Not security for the uninterrupted progress of
quite. The payoffs from corner-cutting, indeed the ideas, the institutions, and the charac-
outright theft, have been so huge in the financial ter of the human race.”
sector that those who are crooked are naturally
drawn to such scheming. The financial markets
did not produce Madoff’s crookedness; Madoff References
was almost certainly depraved to begin with.
Then again, in contradiction of the claim that Bentham, Jeremy. 1776. A Fragment on Govern-
markets undermine morality, there is also a sub- ment: Being an Examination of what is Deliv-
stantial and fascinating literature, as illustrated ered on the Subject of Government in General.
by the writings of the sociologist Allan Silver London. [Reprinted in Works, ed. J. Bowring.]
(1997), which argues ingeniously that markets Bentham, Jeremy. 1780 (1798). An Introduc-
enhance morality. Silver has argued that the tion to the Principles of Morals and Legisla-
impersonal relations in the marketplace replaced tion, Printed in the Year 1780 and now First
the personal relations of the earlier society and Published, London 1798. Oxford: Clarendon
polity; and that the moral quality of personal Press. [Reprinted in Works, ed. J. Bowring.]
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to calculation and interest was now enhanced Exploring.” In A Stream of Windows: Unset-
because it was now freed from practical neces- tling Reflections on Trade, Immigration and
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Theory of Moral Sentiments should be regarded Bhagwati, Jagdish. 2007. “Economic Policy in
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