Mark D. White

Welcome to Economics and Ethics, a new group academic blog which we hope will allow us—and you, our readers and commenters—to:

1. Showcase and discuss new work in ethics-and-economics by scholars around the world,
2. Discuss ways to include treatments of ethics in economics education,
3. Announce new projects and initiatives in ethics-and-economics, including calls for papers for books, journals, and conferences,
4. Highlight the often ignored or overlooked ethical aspects of economic arguments, whether in the world of academia or policy, and
5. Have a good time!

We all believe that economics without ethics—whether in terms of theory, practice, or education—is tragically incomplete. But we do not subscribe to any one “correct” way to integrate the two, substantively or methodologically—each of us has his or her favored approach on these issues, of course, but we value the discussion above all.

We will strive to maintain a civil, respectful forum where ideas can be discussed and debated without becoming personal, with respect to each other, fellow scholars, or political figures (especially political figures). We look forward to vibrant discussion of the ethical aspects of policy without resorting to name-calling and ad hominem attacks. If you disagree with a policy position being discussed, by all means say so, but please keep the discussion focused on the ideas, not the person, organization, or party behind them.

As with many group academic blogs, we have listed some of our books at the right, followed by some of our favorite blogs and websites (including associations and journals). Links to our personal websites are also there, if you want to get to know us a little bit—if not, I’m sure our respective personalities and idiosyncrasies will become apparent before long! We also hope to have guest bloggers from time to time, so if you’re interested in joining us for a spell, just let us know!

UPDATE (9-21-2009): I've added a page with helpful tips to those new to blogs, including how to comment on posts, as well as several ways to contribute original posts of your own (through contacting one of the main bloggers). Also, this post will be "pinned" to the top of the blog for a while, with new posts appearing below it, at least until the blog gets rolling, after which it will be moved to an "about this blog" page.