VishwanathPandit

Ethics,
Economics
and Social
Institutions

Ethics, Economics and Social Institutions

Vishwanath Pandit

Ethics, Economics
and Social Institutions

13

Vishwanath Pandit
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher
Learning (SSSIHL)
Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh
India

ISBN 978-981-10-0897-9
ISBN 978-981-10-0899-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0899-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016935605
Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016
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Offered in Gratitude to
LORD
Sri Sathya Sai Baba
With
LOVE and Humility
These days virtue is becoming rare at all
levelsin the individual, family, society
and community, and also in fields of
lifeeconomic, political and even
spiritual. Life must be spent in
accumulating and safeguarding virtue,
not riches. develop sympathy and the
anxiety to serve and be useful to everyone.
BABA

Foreword

It is a great pleasure for me to write the foreword to this book by Prof. Vishwanath
Pandit, especially since I have known Prof. Pandit as a colleague and a friend for
nearly 45 years.
The title of Prof. Pandits book, Ethics, Economics and Social Institutions, gives
an indication of its very broad scope: the book encompasses a wide range of issues
which have ethical as well as economic dimensions. While the interaction between
economics and ethics has a long history, there have been phases in the development of economics, when economics moved sharply away from several disciplines,
including ethics, with much consequent loss for economics. Over the last several
decades, however, there has been a growing realization of this loss. Increasingly, one
sees economists working on issues which are on the interface between economics
and several other disciplines, such as ethics, political philosophy, and psychology.
There is now a substantial recent literature arising from the interaction of these different disciplines. Professor Pandits book is a valuable contribution to this literature.
In Chap. 2, Prof. Pandit gives a general outline of the role of ethics in economics, as economics evolved over several centuries. This historical account in Chap.2,
which includes, among other things, observations on ethical dimensions of Marxist
and Keynesian thinking, is a valuable feature of the book and provides a historical
background for the chapters that follow. Chapters 3 and 4 of the book are devoted
to detailed discussion of various issues in economics, which have something to do
with ethics and which have received much attention from economists in recent decades. Ethics matters for economics in at least two important ways. First, given that,
economists study, among other things, the choices or decisions made by individuals, it is important for them to study what motivates the individuals in their choices.
Economists have often assumed that the promotion of self-interest is the sole motivation guiding peoples choices. In fact, in less careful economic writings, rational
choice is sometimes taken to be choice that best promotes the agents self-interest.
While individual choices are often guided by self-interest, how reasonable or realistic is the assumption that ethical considerations never influence peoples choices?
Further, how reasonable is it to identify rational choice with choice that exclusively
promotes the individuals self-interest as distinct from her ethical objectives? These
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Foreword

are some of the problems relating to the choices of an individual, where ethics figures in the picture. Ethics also enters economics in a very different fashion. Stated
in very general terms, the goal of public policies, including those public policies
which deal specifically with economic matters, is to promote social welfare. But
what does one mean by social welfare and what can be the ethical bases for judging
whether some policy will increase or decrease social welfare? Since the question
of what is good or bad for the society is inevitably linked to the notion of the wellbeing of individuals constituting the society, the question of what constitutes an
individuals well-being inevitably comes up in this context. Should one identify an
individuals well-being with the satisfaction of her preferences, as economists have
often done in the past? Also, if individuals in a society differ in their opinions about
alternative public policies, how should the society take its decision on the basis of
such conflicting opinions? These are just a few examples of issues which have been
discussed in welfare economics, the normative branch of economics. These two
categories of problems involving ethics are discussed in some detail in Chaps.3
and 4. This is followed by a discussion of the interrelationship between prosperity, happiness, and ethics in Chap.5. However one may conceive an individuals
well-being and happiness as likely to be one of its important components. It is not,
therefore, surprising that, in a flourishing recent literature, economists, psychologists, and philosophers have explored the notion of happiness and what contributes
to human happiness. Professor Pandits Chap.5 continues this exploration.
In Chaps.6, 7, and 8, Prof. Pandit goes on to study issues relating to social
institutions, social norms, spirituality, and religion; he also studies three specific
spiritual movements originating in India. I am not sure that most economists will
regard religion and spiritual movements as appropriate subjects of study in economics. But, if economists want to study the well-being of individuals and societies, then, given the profound impact, positive and negative, that religion often has
on the well-being of individuals and societies, it is not clear that the study of such
impacts can be kept strictly outside the boundaries of economics. One can also take
the position that the issue of how religion affects human well-being needs to be
carefully studied irrespective of whether one decides to put such studies within the
domain of economics or within the domain of some other academic discipline. Like
all interesting scholarly contributions, Prof. Pandits book raises a host of important
questions. It is possible that, given the nature of the questions investigated in the
book, we may not ever reach conclusive answers for many of them. But, in an area
such as this, the value of scholarly contributions often lies in asking important questions and exploring them systematically rather than in providing definitive answers.
I am grateful to Prof. Pandit for the opportunity to read his book: his book has
compelled me to think again about many issues in normative economics, and it has
also made me aware of several issues, about which I had not thought earlier.
Prasanta K. Pattanaik
Emeritus Professor
University of California
USA

Preface

The present monograph was written mainly during 2013 and 2014 when I held a
National Fellowship awarded by the Indian Council for Social Science Research.
The basic motivation has been to relate ethics and moral ethos to society in its various facets with a somewhat sharper focus on economics and related subjects. While
this body of thought has, in recent decades, received considerable attention from
many eminent economists, including several Nobel Laureates like Amartya Sen
and Kenneth Arrow, it has not yet come to be a part of the mainstream discipline
so as to enjoy the status one associates with topics such as microeconomic theory,
macroeconomic policy, finance, economic development, econometrics, trade theory
and industrial economics. Yet, it is not obvious why this class of issues should have
been important to me, who had spent most of his earlier academic career teaching
and researching on topics such as macroeconomic theory and policy, econometric
modeling and financial markets at the Delhi School of Economics, University of
Delhi and other universities in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Looking back it must very well have been so because I have had the privilege
to spend the last fifteen years associated, in different capacities, with Sri Sathya
Sai Institute of Higher Learning (Puttaparthi, India) where the system of education is fully saturated with the promotion of human values under the guidance of
Sri Sathya Sai Baba with no compromises on either side. The meticulous objective
has been to turn out students who are not only competent to undertake challenging
assignments in the world outside as it exists today but also be inclined to serve the
society to promote welfare in whichever way they can best do it. No wonder that,
the Masters program in Economics was drafted so as to include a compulsory
course in Ethics and Economics which I taught for several years. All this might
very well have also been the germination of my intrinsic, though dormant, interest
in ethical issues. I recall having agreed even at the University of Delhi to have an
active involvement in different programs organized by World University Service
and Gandhi Bhavan for nearly fifteen years before moving out here.
The foregoing account may look, rather oddly, self-centric but is, in fact,
intended only to explain how the subject chosen for this monograph turned out
to be what it is. One hardly needs to say that the basic motivation for looking at
ix

Preface

life in a certain way comes from what one sees all round. This is manifested by
increasing inequality across as well as within societies; the new dormant ways
in which crime is taking place; blatant gender bias; growth of violence within as
well as across religious and other affiliations; demoralization of state as an activist social institution; lack of a deep social commitment in corporate strategies for
growth; and, unidentifiable tendency for corruption in all social agencies. All these
seem to have deep economic roots. With all this one should not be surprised if
economic prosperity does not lead to human happiness.
Fortunately, the awareness of the problems mentioned above is considerably
increasing in all types of social deliberations. It is encouraging to see that the new
thinking is exemplified by many leading academics. In particular, it is heartening
that there are many thinkers who have argued not only for a well-motivated analysis to understand the realities of life but also to revise our basic theories so as to
reorient these towards actual behavior with underpinnings of idealism. The problem is, by no means simple as it involves tying together a framework which can
explain not only what is happening but also what ought to happen. The task is,
indeed challenging, and we may have to wait considerably more, searching for an
appropriate academically acceptable way out.
In line with the foregoing observations this monograph deviates significantly
from the usual coverage of ethical issues relating to economics and more broadly
society. It covers in some diversity the evolution of basic economic thought
before turning to several empirical and analytical issues relating to human happiness. Considerable attention is paid not only to market which has governed the
economic system for centuries but as required, also to the state as a fundamental social institution. A relatively modern and quickly realized development in the
form of the financial system, which brings together the state and the economy,
receives special attention with its ethical underpinnings.
The monograph deviates considerably from the usual understanding, as it goes
on to examine ethical issues consistent with the higher view of life. Though the
start is made with religion as the most ancient human institution in its ethical
perspective, it goes further into a considerable degree of abstraction as spirituality which is now attracting the attention of many competent and well-known scientists. To bring the discussion back to the world we understand and live in, the
monograph concludes with three well-known India-based episodes as international
missions. These cover, rather briefly the ethical messages we have received from
Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Ramakrishna Vivekananda combined, and Sri Sathya Sai
Baba. The ethical relevance of these messages at both individual as well as social
levels in todays world cannot be exaggerated.
I am considerably indebted to many of my friends, colleagues, and well wishers for different ways in which they have helped me to undertake and complete this
task. I am sure many of them may not even be aware of the way they have been
helpful. First of all, I wish to express my gratitude to Professor G. Venkataraman
who is an eminent scientist and an exceptionally knowledgeable person on a wide
variety of issues that humanity is facing today. My first substantive contact and significant interaction with him started with the two of us getting together to handle a

Preface

xi

course on Awareness for all postgraduate students at the Prasanthi Nilayam campus
of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning. Our exchange of views on human
values in the contemporary world has fortunately continued over the recent years.
I am also enormously grateful to Professor Prasanta K. Pattanaik, Professor
Emeritus, University of California, Riverside, USA, and an internationally reputed
scholar of economic theory, for having kindly agreed to write a foreword to this
book. I am happy to mention that Professor Pattanaik is an elected Fellow of
the Econometric Society, Public Choice Society and Human Development and
Capability Association. He has held top faculty positions at Cambridge University,
Harvard University and at Delhi School of Economics.
This study has been completed under the National Fellowship Scheme of
the Indian Council for Social Science Research, Ministry of Human Resource
Development, Government of India during the two years: February 2013 through
January 2015. The Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning provided excellent
facilities needed for the study. I am indebted to my colleagues from different disciplines for helpful frequent interactions with me. Needless to add that I owe many
thanks to authorities and administrative staff at the Sri Sathya Institute of Higher
Learning for dealing with their responsibilities with much concern. My thanks also
to authorities at the Indian Council for Social Science Research for offering the
fellowship to me and later handling it with much concern. I am particularly grateful to Professor R. Radhakrishna of the Centre for Economic and Social Change,
Hyderabad, India, for encouraging me to undertake the task.
I was able to benefit considerably from my frequent visits to the Delhi School
of Economics where I have had access to the wonderful Ratan Tata Library. I
also received much support, in different ways, from the Centre for Development
Economics as well as the Department of Economics at the Delhi School of
Economics. I take this opportunity to express my deep sense of gratitude to the
authorities at all these institutions. I am, in particular grateful to Professor Pami
Dua, Director, Delhi School of Economics, and Professor Aditya Bhattacharjea,
Chairman, Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics for several facilities without which my task would have been harder. Dr. Lokesh Sharma, Chief
Librarian of the Ratan Tata Library, and his many colleagues have gone out of the
way to assist me. My thanks to them. For similar help I thank all staff members at the
central library of the Prasanthi Nilayam campus of the Sathya Sai Institute of Higher
Learning. Needless to say that none mentioned above can be held responsible for the
views and assertions expressed in this work. Sagarika Ghosh and Nupoor Singh of
Springer have frequently gone out of the way to help me. I am considerably grateful
for their generous attitude.
Finally and most significantly, this work could not have been completed without the enormous though invisible support I received all along from my wife
Krishna. Above all, I would like to put on record the inspiration we have received
from our beloved daughter, Kanika to pursue a life in search of enlightenment.
How far we have succeeded, we are unable to judge.
Vishwanath Pandit

Contents

1 A General Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Economics and Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 The Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Ethics and Social Sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 The Ethical Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5 Prosperity and Its Fallouts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.6 Facets of Injustice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2 Economics and Ethics: Evolution and Interaction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1 Early Economic Thought. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2 Towards Classical Political Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3 The Agenda for Social Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.4 On to Keynes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.5 Marx and Keynes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3 Rationality, Welfare and Ethics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.1 Some Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2 Rationality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.3 General Equilibrium and Welfare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.4 Preferences and Social Welfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.4.1 Welfare Prospects and Ethics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.5 Behavioral Imperfection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4 Alternative Paradigms in Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.1 Ethics in Ancient Thought. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.2 Modern Paradigms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.3 Utilitarianism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

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4.4 Libertarianism and Contractarianism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

4.5 Marxism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5 Prosperity and Happiness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.1 The Paradox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5.2 Happiness and Ethics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
5.3 Income and Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
5.4 Happiness and Aspirations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.5 Empirical Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
5.6 Prosperity Devoid of Equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
5.7 Back to Ethics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
6 Ethical Norms and Social Institutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6.1 The Setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
6.2 The Market System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6.3 State and Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
6.4 World of Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
6.5 Ethical and Moral Facets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
7 Ethics in a Deeper View of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
7.1 Contemporary Social Norms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
7.2 Faith in Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
7.3 Religion Persists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
7.4 Alternative Views: Philosophy and Science. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
8 Missions for Social Ethics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
8.2 Gandhi for Truth and Nonviolence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
8.3 RamakrishnaVivekananda for Non-Duality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
8.4 Sri Sathya Sai Baba for Pure Love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
9 Summing Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
9.1 Basic Thrust. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
9.2 Ethics in Economic Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
9.3 Rationality and Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
9.4 Happiness for the Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
9.5 Deeper Questions of Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
9.6 The Last Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Name Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Subject Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

About the Author

Prof. Vishwanath Pandit received his doctorate in economics from the University
of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia working with Prof. Lawrence Klein, Nobel Laureate
in Economics. He served at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi for
nearly four decades in different capacities including Head, Department of Economics, and Director, Centre for Development Economics. He also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater, as a visiting Professor (19841985) and spent
a year at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in the United States, as a
National Science Foundation Fellow (19701971). Professor Pandit served University of Manchester, United Kingdom as a visiting faculty (19751976) and later as
Simon Fellow (19761977) and Hallsworth Fellow (19831984).
Recipient of the University Grants Commission Swami Pranavananda
Saraswati National Award for 2004, he was chosen by the Indian Council for
Social Science Research, GOI to hold a National Fellowship for 201315. United
Nations, New York appointed Prof. Pandit as Chairman of the Committee on
Policy Modeling for Less Developed Countries in 1999. Elected as President of
The Indian Econometric Society for 20012002 he continues to serve it as a life
member of its Trust. He was deputed by the United Nations Development Program
to serve as advisor to the Ministry of Planning, government of Sri Lanka for
19891990.
Professor Pandit had the privilege to join the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of
Higher Learning in 2001 and set up the Department of Economics at the Deemed
University. He was later appointed as its Eighth Vice Chancellor.

xv

Introduction

The New Paradigms

The world has changed at a remarkably fast rate over the last few decades,
presumably since the end of the Second World War. Changes, one is thinking
about, have been almost universal covering the society as well as individuals. At
the political front we have moved from colonialism to globalization. The socialist world which had got enlarged over three to four decades since the start of the
twentieth century has practically disappeared; democracy has got enlarged but at
the same time substantially transformed in its modus operandi over the recent decades. Perception of the role of the state as well as the mode and motivation of its
functioning are now different, as they have moved from its social welfare focus in
most countries. Technological changes based on great scientific achievements have
transformed corporate activity and outlook in a serious way. No wonder, the capitalist system itself has a new thrust which has given rise to differently structured
institutions.
One major development has been with regard to the distribution of income and
wealth in all countries particularly those in the advanced world. We cannot but
agree when it is asserted that,
Indeed the distribution of wealth is too important an issue to be left to economists,
sociologists, historians and philosophers. It is of interest to everyone and that is a good thing.1

This has strongly changed and continues to change the design and thrust of economic forces in most countries. Correspondingly, society, with its micro-units,
namely, the families and households are no longer the same; nor are the guiding
principles of social commitment at the aggregate level visible and adequately
accepted as part of the inherited ethos. Equally seriously, the rate of environmental damages motivated by short-term benefits of some has accelerated so as to
threaten the very livelihood and safety of life all around. In our view, the single
1

Piketty (2014) p. 2.
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Introduction

most important reason for these mostly adverse changes has been the sharp decline
of ethical and moral commitments in their different contexts individually and
collectively.
It needs to be recalled that ethical theory is basically a significant part of the
wider discipline of philosophy. Most introductory textbooks in philosophy rightly
highlight that this subject deals with everything from pure sciences to social affairs
like economics and history in addition to literature. One may, however, go as far as
to claim that ethics has been the most prominent guidepost of philosophy before it
got involved with other aspects of human concerns and the implicit thought process. At one time widely used, introductory text (Joad 1960) considers different
views which may not go the same way. A frequently coming up assertion turns out
to be that human values exist in their own right in the sense that these lead to
human benefits. It has, however, been frequently held that ethical values must be
judged by their benefits to humanity. If this is seen as support for consequentialism, it would not be in line with the views of Kant.2 It is also, however, been
pointed out that there is no unique meaning for the word rightnot to be confused with consideration of pleasure and advantage. Clearly, what one ought to do
would typically be different from what one likes to do.3

Ethical Issues in Economics

Ethics gets substantively more meaningful when we consider it in its social rather
than individual context. To appreciate this we need to be aware that the social contract theory view of the relevant issues elaborated in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries has enabled humanity to live together by getting rid of the fear of
each other. Further progress in this context has considerably been possible by
devising effective social institutions like the state and its associated agencies to
promote human well-being, sense of security, and above all a deep sense of commitment to each other.4
No wonder, the last few decades have witnessed a spectacular emergence of
deep thoughts on ethics in its relation to economics with different perspectives.
This has been a clear deviation from the preceding periods when ethics did not figure as a theme worthy of attention, particularly from economists. It is heartening
that most distinguished economists, including Nobel Laureates like Amartya Sen,
Kenneth Arrow, and several others have written on a variety of ethical issues in
their relation to economic and other broader social concerns. Prior to this the focus
remained on mainstream microeconomic theory with either implicit or explicit
2

Kant, who receives considerable attention in ethical literature is, however, considered to have
been intolerably and unnecessarily obscure and yet frequently commented upon. (Joad 1960)
p. 141.
3
Kant has often claimed that ought implies can, rendering ethical behavior less arduous.
4
Joad (1960) p. 186.