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This book deals with the basic question of what money can and cannot buy and offers an analysis of the limitations of the market mechanism. Few concepts are as controversial as religion and the market mechanism. Some consider religion to be in conflict with a modern rational scientific view of life, and thus as a contributory cause of harsh conflicts and a barrier to human happiness. Others consider religious beliefs as the foundation for ethics and decent behaviour. Similar, a number of neoliberal writers acclaimed the market mechanism as one of the greatest triumphs of the human mind, and saw it as the main reason why rich countries became rich. Others are extremely skeptical and stress how this mechanism has result in big multinational firms with powerfully rich owners and masses of poor low-paid workers. Researchers from various fields - economists, social scientists, theologians and philosophers - handle these questions very differently, applying different methods and differentideals. This book offers a synthesis of the different viewpoints. It deals with economists', theologians' and philosophers' differing thoughts about the market and its limitations.
List of contents
Introduction.- Chapter 1. Markets, ethics and religion - an introduction (Niels Kærgård).- Part I: Economics of the market.- Chapter 2. The markets in economics: Behavioral Assumptions and value judgment (Agnar Sandmo).- Chapter 3. The importance of market failure (Peder Andersen).- Chapter 4. Income distribution, the market and unequal income distribution (Hans Aage).- Chapter 5. Economics of Good and Evil (Tomas Sedlacek).- Chapter 6. Happiness, market and economy (Peder J. Pedersen).- Chapter 7. Scientific truth, science bubbles and the market (Vincent F. Hendricks).- Part II: Religion and the market.- Chapter 8. Theology of money: Rationalisation and spiritual goods (Philip Goodchild).- Chapter 9. Religion, politics and moral in recent Denmark (Peter Lüchau).- Chapter 10. Lutheran social ethics (Svend Andersen).- Chapter 11. Two Bishops on the ethics of the market economy (Niels Kærgård).- Chapter 12. The problem of loan interest for Luther and the Danish Reformers (Martin SchwartzLausten).- Chapter 13. Catholic Social Teaching - The Church's 'best kept secret' (Else Britt Nilsen).- Chapter 14. Islamic attitude to markets, interest rate and social questions.- Part III: The limitation of the market: Some cases.- Chapter 15. Trade with human eggs, blood and organs (Kirsten Halsnæs).- Chapter 16. Animals, animal welfare and the market.- Chapter 17. Gender, sex and the market - Can sex be a service like any others? (Hanne Petersen).- Chapter 18. Income distribution, Lutheran Christianity and the Danish welfare state (Jørn Henrik Petersen).- Chapter 19. The Danish society's common values (Ove Korsgaard).- Chapter 20. Ethics, religion and corporate social responsibility (Jacob Dahl Rendtorff).- Chapter 21. Taboos, Religion and economic rationality (Niels Kærgård).
About the author
Niels Kærgård, professor 1993-2017, chair of the Danish Board of Economic advisors 1995-2001, in the board of Carlsberg Foundation and Carlsberg Brewery 2002-12; of University of Copenhagen 2007-13 and vice-president of the Danish Academy of Science 2008-13
