Abstract
Economists often operate as though they had perfect knowledge and their expert knowledge, couched in difficult and abstruse mathematics, was infallible. In the material world of uncertainty, risk, reward and, all too often, impoverishment, the consequences of bad policy decisions are not just theoretical mistakes on paper; but rather, they create harms for many people. Thus a meaningful code of ethics is necessary. Developing a meaningful code of ethics may be difficult if economists must remain within the mainstream paradigm; however, there are many alternative economic approaches that may or may not use the methods and tools of the mainstream. All of them have ethics at their core in the sense of respect and care for other persons and the environment. The prudential principle, the principle of informed consent, and autonomy are embedded in their methodologies and approaches. In developing a code of ethics for economics, we should look to other heterodox schools and related disciplines where such codes have a long and successful record.
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Barker, D.K. (2016). Ethics and Social Justice. In: Searing, E., Searing, D. (eds) Practicing Professional Ethics in Economics and Public Policy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7306-5_16
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