The Ethical Economy

Resumen del libro

A shifting global economy now offers the opportunity for a more ethical system to take root, one that rectifies the crisis spots of our current downturn while balancing the injustices of extreme poverty and wealth. Adam Arvidsson and Nicolai Peitersen, a scholar and an entrepreneur, outline the shape such an economy would take, identifying its origins in innovations already occurring in our production, valuation, and distribution systems

Much in the way nineteenth-century entrepreneurs, philosophers, bankers, artisans, and social organizers planned a course for modern capitalism that was more economically efficient and ethically desirable, today we have a prime chance to construct new instruments, institutions, and infrastructure to reverse the trajectory of a fast-deteriorating economic regime. Considering a multitude of emerging phenomena, Arvidsson and Peitersen show wealth creation can be the result of a new kind of social production no longer only characterized by the pursuit of private interests, materialist consumerism, and individual financial gain.

In particular, Arvidsson and Peitersen argue that financial markets could become a central arena in which a diversity of ethical concerns could be integrated into tangible economic valuations. In fact, they suggest such a common standard has already emerged and that this process is linked to the spread of social media that makes it possible to capture the general sentiment of value to most people. They suggest building on these developments to initiate a radical democratization of financial markets and the value decisions they generate.