v8n1: Cohen and Peterson on Heath

The Implicit Morality of the Market Is Consequentialist, by Marc Cohen and Dean Peterson

A COMMENTARY ON Joseph Heath (2019), “Is the ‘Point’ of the Market Pareto or Kaldor-Hicks Efficiency?,” Bus Ethics J Rev 7(4): 21–26, https://doi.org/10.12747/bejr2019.07.04

Abstract:
Joseph Heath states that our paper “misinterpret[s]” and so misrepresents his account. The present Commentary corrects the record. Our paper (Cohen and Peterson 2019) outlined Heath’s account on his own terms; it explained that Heath distances himself from consequentialism. But then we argued that Heath is mistaken and so offered a repaired version of the market failures approach. Our central concern, in the original paper and in this short Commentary, is showing that the economic argument for markets is at the same time ethical, and then being more precise about the ethical consideration that does the work.

To download the full PDF, click here: Cohen & Peterson on Heath

Dean Peterson is an Associate Professor of economics and Associate Director of the University Honors Program at Seattle University. His teaching and research focus on the history of economics.

Marc A. Cohen is an Associate Professor at Seattle University in the Department of Management and the Department of Philosophy.