Morals of Markets and Related Essays, The by H. B. Acton - 1993-04

Although the market economy is not as unpopular now as when Acton wrote The Morals of Markets, the morality of buying and selling has long bothered man's conscience. Defenses of capitalism often establish its efficiency or rely on a "that is the way human nature is anyway" argument. This book asserts that a free market is a necessary condition for the pursuit of moral excellence. Its analysis of the relation between capitalism and moral virtue has not been superseded.

The demise of Marxism and the moral bankruptcy of socialism throughout the world do not end the debate over capitalism. Acton's book is distinctive in discussing the "morals of markets" in a way that forms an essential addition—often missing—to the case to be made for free markets.

Harry Burrows Acton (1908–1974) was Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh.

David Gordon is a Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Jeremy Shearmur teaches political theory at the Australian National University.

About the Author:

Jeremy Shearmur is Emeritus Fellow at the Australian National University. He studied at the London School of Economics with Popper, Watkins and Lakatos, and subsequently worked with Popper as his assistant for eight years. He taught philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, political theory at the University of Manchester, and subsequently both subjects at the Australian National University. He is the author of Hayek and After and The Political Thought of Karl Popper, and is coeditor of Popper's After the Open Society.

David M. Gordon is Dorothy H. Hirshon Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research. He is the author, with Samuel Bowles and Thomas Weisskopf, of "After the Waste Land: A Democratic Economics for the Year 2000 and "Beyond the Waste Land: A Democratic Alternative to Economic Decline. He lives in New York City.