Overview This book is a philosophical reflection (using mainly Hegel, in addition to 1 Adam Smith, Kant, Marx and Catholic Social Thought) about the soc- political dimension of economics. In it I both agree and disagree with the slogan that the least government is the best government. I agree with the slogan, in particular as it applies to the economic domain. Adam Smith taught us that rational and self-interested individuals, left by themselves, create a more efficient and reliable economic system than one in which the government has a heavy role as was the case in his time with the merc- tile system (Smith, 14, 651). Ludwig von Mises demonstrated the same idea for the communist command economy (Hayek 1935, 87 130). I d- agree with the above mentioned slogan if it is interpreted as suggesting that we can best forget about the role of the government for a good functioning economy. Instead, I will argue that the government has an important fu- tion in creating the proper regulations and the wise institutional arran- ments which will allow the economy to flourish in a more efficient, fair and humane way. This book is interdisciplinary in nature. It is a philosophical and ethical reflection on economics. Hence, I make use of philosophical ideas, often but not exclusively those of Hegel. I reflect philosophically on economic concepts.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Normative Reflections on the Economy. - The Interconnection of Moral and Economic Theory. - Economics and Politics in the Architectonic of Hegel s Thought. - The Ethical Function of the Economy. - The Economic Order: A Human, Not a Natural Institution. - The Concept of Merit Good and the History of Economic Thought. - Objecting to a Libertarian Attack on Governmental Functions in the Economy: The Concept of Public Good . - Applications. - Structural Deficiencies in the American System. - Unjust Redistribution in the American System. - The Role of Religion and Civil Society in a Transformed Command Economy. - Overlapping Ideas: Catholic Social Thought and Recent Nobel Laureates in Economics. - Conclusion.
