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 »
Those of us in the democratic-republican West often find it impossible to understand how the world could go to war so often in the 20th century. We were raised in a culture that had internalized Locke, Jefferson, Mill, and others—for whom the goal of peace and respect for others’ rights to life, liberty, and property
Werner Sombart on heroes versus merchants Read More »
According to Shostakovich: “Rimsky-Korsakov used to say that he refused to acknowledge any complaints from composers about their hard lot in life. He explained his position thus: Talk to a bookkeeper and he’ll start complaining about life and his work. Work has ruined him, it’s so dull and boring. You see, the bookkeeper had planned
Rimsky-Korsakov on the “hardship” of the composer’s life Read More »
A short publication of mine entitled “The Ethics of Outside Funding”. Some years ago there was controversy in the academic world about the BB&T Charitable Foundation’s sponsoring programs on the moral foundations of capitalism. I participated in a conference panel that debated the issue pro and con. After an interesting set of papers and the
The ethics of outside funding Read More »
My review essay on Donald Frey’s America’s Economic Moralists: A History of Rival Ethics and Economics (State University of New York Press) was published in Business Ethics Quarterly. Subscribers to BEQ can access the issue here. Or my author-read audio version is at YouTube. My conclusion: “America’s Economic Moralists is a good historical survey of
My review of Frey’s *America’s Economic Moralists* Read More »
From the preface to Andy Grove‘s (recommended) Only the Paranoid Survive: “The sad news is, nobody owes you a career. Your career is literally your business. You own it as a sole proprietor. You have one employee: yourself. You are in competition with millions of similar businesses: millions of other employees all over the world.
Andy Grove on the entrepreneurial employee Read More »