Abstract
In this chapter I challenge the importance that economic efficiency has in an advanced economy. I distinguish my position from other work in the philosophy of economics-especially critics of increasing commodification. I argue that the emphasis on efficiency has transferred transaction costs to consumers, increased unemployment and acerbated inequality. I end by considering and responding to likely objections to my proposals to sometimes sacrifice economic efficiency.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Radin, Margaret Jane. (1996). Contested Commodities. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
- 2.
See Posner, Richard A. (1992). Economic Analysis of Law, 4th ed. Boston: Little Brown and Elizabeth M. Landes and Richard A. Posner. (1978). “The Economics of the Baby Shortage,” Journal of Legal Studies, Posner later pointed out that he did not advocate a market in babies. See his “Mischaracterized View” Judicature 321 (1986).
- 3.
Herbert Simon may have been the father of behavioral economics. He won the Nobel Prize in 1978 for his work on decision making in organizations. In 2002 David Kahneman also won the Nobel Prize in Economics. Other prominent behavioral economists Include Robert Shiller, Richard Thaler and Amos Tversky.
- 4.
Anderson, Elizabeth. (1993). Value in Ethics and Economics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, The journal Ethics had a special section of its V. 106 #3 April 1996 issue devoted to Anderson’s book. See pages 508–554.
- 5.
Ibid., xii.
- 6.
Ibid., xiii.
- 7.
Sagoff, Mark. (1988). The Economy of the Earth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 7–8.
- 8.
http://www.onlinemarketing-trends.com/2011/02/size-of-walmart-statistics-and-trends.html, Downloaded February 12, 2012.
- 9.
http://www.onlinemarketing-trends.com/2011/02/size-of-walmart-statistics-and-trends.html,Downloaded February 12, 2012.
- 10.
Farmer, John. (2009). The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/1. New York: Riverhead Books.
- 11.
Real Time With Bill Maher : April 8, 2011.
- 12.
Friedman, Thomas L. (2006). The World is Flat, Updated and Expanded. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 257.
- 13.
Although Spence was not honored for work related to the topic under discussion here. He shared the award with others for work on the economics of asymmetric information.
- 14.
Newsweek June 18, 20, 2011.
- 15.
Lambert, Craig. (2011). “Our Unpaid, Extra Shadow Work,” The New York Times, October 30, “Sunday Review”, 12.
- 16.
Friedman, op.cit., 237.
- 17.
Ibid., 306.
- 18.
Keynes, John Maynard. (1936). The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World Inc., 84.
- 19.
Gross, Daniel. (2010). “Rock-Bottom Prices,” Newsweek, September 20, 40, 47.
- 20.
Okun, Arthur M. (1975). Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
- 21.
Thaler, Richard H. and Cass R. Sunstein. (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bowie, N.E. (2013). What’s Wrong with Efficiency and Always Low Prices. In: Business Ethics in the 21st Century. Issues in Business Ethics, vol 39. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6223-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6223-7_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6222-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6223-7
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPhilosophy and Religion (R0)