In his essay “To Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch,” Kant wrote that “the spirit of commerce, which is incompatible with war, sooner or later gains the upper hand in every state.” Kant was not a friend of the spirit of commerce, which he associated with the Jews, whom he despised as “immoral and vile” and […]
Is commerce rendering war obsolete? Read More »
Piggybacking on economist David Henderson’s fun-with-a-point post, “I Was a Chinese Laborer,” about rules designed to limit how much overtime Chinese workers are allowed at Apple’s and other companies’ factories. The goal is “to bring its factories within China’s legal limits of 40 hours of work per week and 36 hours maximum overtime per month
I too was an exploited worker Read More »
One regularly reads or hears condemnations of the power of business corporations in the modern world. So let’s think about the nature of power. Witness Warren Buffett. Buffett is currently the sixth richest man in the world and head of the powerhouse Berkshire Hathaway corporation. I’m not a fan of his political or economic views,
Anecdote: Warren Buffett and the power of corporations Read More »
My short essay on “What Business Ethics Can Learn from Entrepreneurship” [pdf] was published in the Journal of Private Enterprise in 2009, just when entrepreneurism was beginning to get attention in the business ethics literature. The abstract: “Entrepreneurship is increasingly studied as a fundamental and foundational economic phenomenon. It has, however, received less attention as
“What Business Ethics Can Learn from Entrepreneurship” — text and audio versions Read More »
Entrepreneurial Living, edited by Stephen R. C. Hicks and Jennifer Harrolle. In this volume of interviews with entrepreneurs from six countries and seven U.S. states, we explore the adventure—and the hard-headedness—of business. What makes for entrepreneurial success—and failure? To what extent is flourishing a matter of ideas, or of key decisions, or of persistent action,
An observation by Bertrand de Jouvenel on begrudging others’ riches. The question he takes up is this: Why are the great incomes of movie stars and singers not routinely attacked while the great incomes of CEOs and entrepreneurs are? “The film star or the crooner is not grudged the income that is grudged to the
Jouvenel on begrudging other people’s wealth Read More »
A flotilla of ships is approaching your shore. Does it matter to you whether they are carrying smartphones and shoes — or rockets and soldiers? In his Economic Sophisms, Frédéric Bastiat makes this exasperated point: “A French ironmaster says: ‘We must protect ourselves from the invasion of English iron!’ An English landlord cries: ‘We must
War metaphors and trade — Bastiat Read More »
“Lo que la Ética Empresarial Puede Aprender del Emprendimiento.” [HTML] [PDF]Stephen R.C. HicksDepartamento de Filosofía y Centro para la Ética y el EmprendimientoRockford University, Illinois, USA Publicado por primera vez en The Journal of Private Enterprise 24(2), 2009, 49-57.Traducido al Español por Walter Jerusalinsky, Idóneos, 2013. Resumen: El emprendimiento se está estudiando cada vez más
Lo que la Ética Empresarial Puede Aprender del Emprendimiento Read More »