Abstract
Storr and Choi (2019) present ample evidence that the market process results in outcomes that can be considered “moral”, however they do not address the potential moral implications of policy interventions that place restrictions on the market process. This essay poses, and begins to answer, a related question: is it immoral to stand in the way of the market process? Insights from market process theory are used to explore this question and to identify four ways in which impediments to markets, and not markets themselves, have the potential to corrupt our moral character: 1. They prevent people from accessing the benefits markets have been shown to provide. 2. They create incentives that encourage people to practice behaviors that are considered immoral. 3. They prevent people from actively participating in the development of their own moral character. 4. They prevent us from discovering new social rules that are morally superior to the ones that currently exist.
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Notes
Since Storr and Choi (2019) provide a comprehensive analysis of this literature, this section only briefly summarizes some of the benefits markets provide.
While accumulating material wealth itself is not a moral end, and is often viewed as immoral, it does allow people to focus less on survival and satisfying their physical needs and provides them with the luxury to think about the needs of their souls.
The positive relationship between markets and many dimensions of human flourishing has, at this point, been relatively well-established in the literature. See Hall and Lawson (2014) for a detailed survey of this literature.
To clarify, this section is not arguing that those who are not naturally tempted by vice cannot be truly virtuous. Nor is it arguing that self-sacrifice is a prerequisite for virtue.
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Fike, R. Do disruptions to the market process corrupt our morals?. Rev Austrian Econ 36, 99–106 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11138-022-00575-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11138-022-00575-y