中欧社会论坛 - China Europa ForumEconomic analysis of moral behaviour
Auteurs : Wang Wengui
Date : 1999, No.6
Publié par « Zhejiang Social Sciences »
Abstract: This paper utilises mainly economic sciences, especially the Western economic theory of new systems, to analyse human moral behaviour from an economic point of view. After presenting the possibilities and the necessity of such an analysis, the author conducts an economic analysis of moral and immoral behaviour. The moral and immoral behaviour of homo economicus in the market economy are determined by individual interests, and economic sciences can be used to analyse and understand these behaviours. However, immoral behaviour should not be tolerated and for this reason it is necessary to make use of legal, institutional means to control human behaviour to prevent individuals from overstepping accepted boundaries.
Morals, as in the use of public resources, are non-exclusive. Non-exclusivity makes it difficult for public resource providers to recover costs using market mechanisms. Let us look at a constant practice that affects public resources: hitch-hiking. Hitch-hikers benefit from a service without contributing anything to the provider, including costs. The money lost because of hitch-hikers has to be recovered, leading to cost increases for other providers. The same goes for morals. Everyone wants a morally correct society but the “hitch-hikers” do not want to pay the price of this morality or to fulfil the necessary moral obligations. For this reason, the already large and growing number of “hitch-hikers” will inevitably destroy the moral code of the whole society.
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- anglais : doc_481.pdf (110 Kio)
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- chinois : doc_482.pdf (62 Kio)