3022 ETHICS in APPLIED ECONOMICS Dr Joanna Pasek
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
3022 ETHICS IN APPLIED ECONOMICS Dr Joanna Pasek
The course will begin by identifying the main ethical assumptions implicit in the theory of welfare economics that underlies most applied micro-economics. The relationship of certain major strands of ethical theory to these assumptions will then be briefly discussed. The role of ethical assumptions and the relevance of the different ethical theories to some selected topics in applied welfare economics will then be analysed. The course will cover the ten topics listed below, each topic covering roughly two one-hour lectures given on the same afternoon. In addition all students will be required to attend four classes. Most of the course will be given by Dr Joanna Pasek, (JP), a philosopher, who currently also teaches a course on ‘Ethics and Environmental Economics’ at UCL in the M.Sc. in Environmental and Resource Economics. Some contributions will also be made by Professor Wilfred Beckerman, (WB), an Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, who was the Professor of Political Economy at UCL from 1969-1975 and who is now a Visiting Professor at UCL.
1.(WB) The distinction between positive and normative economics; re-cap of the basic structure of welfare economics for purposes of highlighting the ethical assumptions implied in theoretical welfare economics, such as the boundaries of the society whose welfare is to be maximized, or the role of income distribution, or the identification of preferences with welfare.
2. (JP) Brief over-view of the main ethical theories that are relevant to the evaluation of the ‘goodness’ of given economic outcomes.
3. (WB) (a) preferences and welfare; (b) income distribution and Pareto optimality.
4. (JP) Theories of distributional justice and egalitarianism, including Sen on different dimensions of equality, and on ‘capabilities’; Dworkin and resources; Rawls and the difference principle; Temkin and the intrinsic value of equality.
5. (JP) Boundaries of society I: the space dimension. .How far ought one be concerned with the welfare of other countries? cosmopolitanism versus communitarianism; conceptions of international justice.
6. (JP) Boundaries of society II: the time dimension. Implications of main moral theories for the scope of our obligations to future generations; rights of future generations; intergenerational justice.
7. (WB) The ethics of discounting, with special reference to climate change
8. (JP) Applications I. Cost-benefit analysis and economic valuation: critiques of monetisation of values; plural values and the incommensurability of values.
9.( WB) Applications II. Cost-benefit analysis and the value of life (notably in decisions concerning health, transport, environmental policy); alternative approaches to the valuation of life; length of life and quality of life.
10. (JP) (i) Applications III. Environmental policy; how environmental problems raise all the various ethical issues touched on above, such as rights or interests of future generations or other countries, status of environmental values, corporate social responsibility and the environment, morality of market mechanisms to deal with pollution. (ii) Revision.
Readings: During the course key readings for individual lectures or classes will be indicated by the lecturers, and will usually comprise selected articles or selected chapters or passages from books. Offprints of some key articles or extracts from books will be held in a special pack in the library. The list is shown below. The library will also keep some books in a reserved selection, a list of which is also shown below. Students might also find it useful to refer to sections in:-
Adler, M.D., and Posner, E.A. 2001, Cost-benefit Analysis: Legal, Economic, Philosophical Perspectives, esp. pp77-94 Broome, J. 1999, Ethics out of Economics, esp. the Introduction and chapter 2 Gardiner, S., 2004, ‘Ethics and global climate change’, in Ethics, 114:555-600, (this article can be accessed via UCL’s electronic resources) Hausman, D.M. and M.S. McPherson, 1996, Economic analysis and moral philosophy, Cambridge University Press, or later extended 2006 edition Economic Analysis, moral philosophy, and public policy, also CUP. Layard, R., ‘Happiness: has social science a clue?’ (Three lectures), at:- cep.lse.ac.uk/events/lectures/layard/RL030303.pdf Little, IMD, 1957, A Critique of Welfare Economics, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, chapter V, Little, IMD, 2002, Ethics, Economics, & Politics, Oxford University Press, esp. Part I Partridge, E. 'Future generations', 'On the Rights of Future Generations', and 'Posterity and the strains of commitment' ,available at
Also look up on line the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, e.g. on equality or distributive justice. Another good website is ‘Tutor2u’ on normative and positive propositions. *********************** List of offprints supplied for 3022, ‘Ethics in Applied Economics’ by Dr Joanna Pasek.
1. Anderson, E. extract from Value in Ethics and Economics, (on CBA) 2. Shaw and Barry, extract from Moral Issues in Business Four articles on the value of life:- 3. Mishan, extract from Cost-Benefit Analysis 4. Broome, J. extract from Ethics out of Economics 5. Lukes, S. from Farina et. al. (eds), Rationality and Economic Behaviour 6. Hargreaves Heap et al. (eds) extract from The theory of choice 7. Sen, A. extract from Inequality Re-examined 8. Barry, B. extract from Justice as Impartiality 9. Beckerman, W. and Pasek, J. chapter 3 from Justice, Posterity, and the Environment 10.Beckerman, W. and Pasek, J. chapter 10 from Justice, Posterity, and the Environment 11. De George, R. ‘The Environment, Rights. and Future Generations’ 12. Kavka, G. ‘The Futurity Problem’ 13. Joshi, V. and Skidelsky, R. ‘One World?’, (book review) 14. Lukes, S. ‘Comparing the incomparable’ (extract from Chang, R. (ed.) 15. Pasek, J. ‘The Identity Problem’ 16. Sen, A. ‘Value and Choice’ 17. Little, I.M.D. ‘Value judgements and welfare economics’ 18. Goodin, R. ‘Selling environmental indulgencies’.
List of reserved books in library for course 3022 (Dr.Pasek) in Economics Department
Anderson,E. 1993, Value in Ethics and Economics, Harvard Univ. Press Beckerman, W. and Pasek, J.,2001, Justice, Posterity and the Environment, Oxford University Press. Broome, J., 1999, Ethics out of Economics, Cambridge University Press Chang,R. 1997, Incommensurability, Incomparability and Practical Reason, Harvard University Press Hausman, D.M. andM.S. McPherson, 1996 (or later edition 2006 edition if available), Economic analysis and moral philosophy, Cambridge University Press. Kymlicka,W. 2002, Contemporary Political Philosophy, Oxford University Press Little, I.M.D, 2002, Ethics, Economics, & Politics ,Oxford University Press Plant, R. 1991, Modern Political Thought, Blackwell, Oxford Rawls, J., 1972, A Theory of Justice, Clarendon Press, Oxford Schmidtz D. and Willott E., 2002, Environmental Ethics, Oxford University Press Sen, Amartya, 1987, On Ethics and Economics, Blackwell, Oxford ------1982, Choice, Welfare and Measurement, Blackwell, Oxford Shrader-Frechette,K., 2002, Environmental Justice, Oxford University Press Singer, P.,2002 One World , Yale Univ. Press