More Virtuous Than We Think
Homo Economicus is a fundamentally selfish man. But what if he’s been vastly overhyped?
Samuel Bowles’ slim, fascinating, and thought-provoking book, The Moral Economy: Why Good Incentives Are No Substitute for Good Citizens starts with two assertions. The first is that policymakers have over-learned Adam Smith’s lesson that people achieve collective good when they pursue private interest. Smith noted that pursuit of self interest often produces societal benefit. But Smith hedged his bets. Bowles charges that economists, jurists, and policymakers often don’t hedge theirs, and they have come to rely excessively on incentives based on the proposition that people’s behavior is entirely self-interested and amoral.