Ethics, Economics and Environment

8/12/2019 Ethics, Economics and Environment

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25 May 2010 Economic.ppt 1

Ethics, Economic Systems & the

Environment


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Ethics

Branch of philosophy;

study of good and bad, right and wrong;

principles by which a person or society judges

right and wrong;

elucidates criteria, standards, or rules for judging

right and wrong.



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Economics

Study of how people divide or allocate

valuable goods and services

Use of resources

Manufacture goods

Exchange of resources, goods, & services

Setting of value in markets



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Ethics & Economics

Questions of valueWhat is valuable?

Money, my car, my house, my computer, my clothes, my cell

phone? My boat! ?

Family, friends, neighborhood?

Birds, mammals, insects, flowers, trees, fish?

Water, air, soil, ecosystem functions, ecosystem services?

What is right?

Keeping my stuff?

Treating other people fairly?

Preserving living things?

Preserving clean water, air, soil, etc?



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Worldviews

Anthropocentric Values money, car, house, computer, clothes, cell phone;

Family, friends, neighborhood;

Treating other people fairly;

Denies or ignores rights of non-human entities.

Biocentric Values birds, mammals, insects, flowers, trees, fish;

Living things have a right to be

Ecocentric Values clean water, air, soil, ecosystem functions and services;

Ecosystems must be left alone.



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Worldviews



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Environmental Ethics & Ethicists

Henry David Thoreau, R.W. Emerson

Nature as manifestation of divine

John Muir

Preservation ethic; natural environment should be kept inpristine condition

Gifford Pinchot

Conservation ethic; use natural resources wisely,

sustainably.

Aldo Leopold

Land ethic; humans part of land-community



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Economics

Economy: system of production,

distribution, consumption of goods and

services.

Kinds of economies

Subsistence economy

Centrally planned economy

Capitalist market economy

Mixed economy



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Three schools of economics

Classical economics

Resources (soil, minerals, water, food, etc.)

limited, valuable.

Neoclassical economics

Labor, human resources have value.

Ecological economics

Ecosystem services have value.


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Economic Decisions:

Kinds of economies

Subsistence economy

Centrally planned

economy Capitalist market

economy

Mixed economy

Who makes economic

decisions??

What to produce?

& How much? How to produce them?

How to distribute?

How to set a price?

Which goods & servicesto consume (purchase

and use)?



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Economic Decisions:

Who makes economic decisions??

Individuals in the marketplace

= Pure Capitalism, Free-market system



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Pure Capitalism

Adam Smith, 1776,

Inquiry into the Nature

and Causes of theWealth of Nations.

invisible hand,

laissez faire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AdamSmith.jpg


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Pure Capitalism

Works in small economies where information

freely available.

No seller or buyer can control or manipulate.

In large economies, not everyone has information.

Possible to cheat,

manipulate supply or demand,

degrade resources, pollute.


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Economic Decisions:


Government

Centrally planned economy.

= pure command economic system,

Former USSR,

China 1947-present.

Germany under Nazi Party (19331945)



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Pure Command System

Does pure command ever work??

too many tractors,

not enough toilet paper!!Laborers work for State, not for themselves;

Lowers motivation

Reduces innovation

Leaders care little for welfare of people.


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Economic Decisions:


Corporations

= Corporate capitalist economic system.

Real system in USA?



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Corporate Capitalist System

Corporations attempt to control markets

(market share) Maximize profits for shareholders !!

Produce at low cost. cheap foreign labor

resist labor unions

Sell at high price (what the market will bear).

Withhold/conceal information. Degrade resources, pollute

avoidcosts of conservation, clean-up


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Mixed economy

Corporations & small businesses regulated

by government

Encourage entrepreneurism

Prevent monopolies (anti-trust laws)

Modify economic (boom-and-bust) cycles

Bailout

Regulate business practices

Worker safety, product safety & effectiveness

Banking system, insurance, taxation, trade

Pollution may be regulated


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Mixed economy

Corporations & small businesses regulated

by government Provide services not available, or affordable, in market

National security

Education

Health care (esp. for poor, elderly)

Economic safety net

Social Security, unemployment insurance

Law enforcement

Documents

Ethics, Economics and Environment