Università Roma Tre

In the recent decades, the market has acquired a growing consensus as a mechanism to allocate and to distribute resources also outside the private economy (eg. within the Public Administration, the Welfare State, International Law, Environmental policies as in the case of the Emission Trading Systems…). The claim lies in reasons not only of efficiency but also of fairness. Adopting a perspective of Ethics and Economics the course aims to give students the tools for a normative evaluation of such a claim.

The course is divided into three parts. The first one is devoted to a rigorous theoretical analysis of the main reasons in favor of the market and of those that underline its limits. The second one applies these reasons to the evaluation of a specific case-study: today's market inequalities. This evaluation is accompanied by a description of both the main indicators/measures of inequality, the main data on market inequalities and the main alleged drivers. The third one discusses case-studies presented by the students.
Part 1: The normative evaluation of the market
1) In defense of the market: a) the market as the realm of efficiency (Pareto, Hayek, Schumpeter); b) the market as the realm of freedom, responsibility and desert; b) the virtues of the market; c) the the inevitability of the trade- off between efficiency and social justice.

2) Critical remarks: a) the inefficiencies of the market; b) the market as the realm of brute luck, power and exploitation; b) the vices induced by the market a; c) the complementarities between efficiency and social justice.
Part 2. The evaluation of today’s market inequalities
1) What do we mean by market inequalities and how do we measure them?; the pros and cons of the different measures, of different equivalence scales, deflators….

2) The main trends in market inequalities with a focus on the OECD countries.

3) The main drivers (skill biased technological change and knowledge economy; globalization; financialization; labour market deregulation and decline in worker power; changes in the nature of the firm; changes in economic policies – macroeconomic policies, tax policies, anti-trust….).

4) How to evaluate these dynamics in the light of the criteria previously studied?

Part 3. Case-studies presented by students

E. Anderson, 1990, “The ethical limitations of the market”, Economics and Philosophy, p. 179-205
A. Buchanan, 1985 Ethics, Efficiency and the Market (Chapters 1, 2, 3), Rowman & Littlefield.
M. Franzini, E. Granaglia, M. Raitano, Extreme Inequalities in Today Capitalism, Springer, (Chapters 2, 3, 4)
Handouts distributed through e-learning