Morals and Markets: The Dangerous Balance [Paperback]

Friedman and McNeill draw on recent research in evolutionary game theory and behavioral economics to explore the relationship between our moral codes and our market systems. They show how imbalance between morals and markets is at the root of the recent corporate scandals in the US as well as the global financial crisis the world continues to face.Table of Contents Prologue: A Tale of Two Tilts I. TWO HALVES OF THE BALANCE 1. The Savanna Code: What Good Are Morals? 2. The Rise of Wealth: How We Became Civilized and Started Shopping II. WORLDS OUT OF KILTER 3. From Melqart to Zombieworld: Adventures in Imbalance 4. Madness, Lies, and Crashes: When Prices Run Free 5. Blundering Back To Balance: TARP and Tear Gas 6. China: Morals and the Rush to Wealth III. LIFE AROUND US 7. From Hudson's Bay to eBay: Why Some People Like Going to Work 8. Markets and Sin: Murder, Mega-Casinos, and Drug Wars 9. Underworlds: The Tao of Gangs 10. Cooling the Earth: The Preservation Markets 11. The World Ahead

'Morals and Markets shows in example after example that absence of morals and absence of markets leads to poverty and suffering. Our modern society depends upon the balance between the two. And when they break down, as they have in the recent financial crisis, then we have chaos. Friedman and McNeill, who are fascinating on every page, have uncovered one of the fundamental principles of our existence.' - George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2001

'An engrossing and insightful read that draws on the sweep of human history to show the delicate balance between moral codes and economic market rules. This book should be mandatory reading for ideologues on both sides of the debates on the extent to which self-organized markets, freed of regulation, can be relied on to put food on our tables and keep at bay the beasts within us.' - Daniel McFadden, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2000

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