Join us for an engaging talk by James Konow. This event will take place in Social Sciences 224 from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights and participate in a stimulating discussion!

Bio

James Konow is Distinguished Professor of Economics and Ethics at Loyola Marymount University and
former Chair of Economics and Ethics at Kiel University. He has held visiting positions at Tulane University,
the University of Gothenburg, the University of Oslo, and Osaka University. His specialty is economics and
ethics, including distributive justice, reciprocity, cooperation, moral biases and effects of ethics education,
and it has been published in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Literature, the
European Economic Review, the Journal of Public Economics, and Economics and Philosophy. His current
research explores applications of virtue ethics to economic behavior and the development of a moral
theory based on virtue ethics

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Abstract

This project is chiefly an exercise in descriptive ethics, which reviews empirical results, mostly from
economics experiments, and theoretical findings, mostly behavioral economic theories. This discussion is
structured around the three main schools of thought in philosophical ethics, consequentialism, deontology
and virtue ethics. I analyze the extent to which various prescriptive theories in each of these schools are
consistent with the descriptive results. I argue that such an exercise can yield benefits to both economists
and philosophers. Regarding the former, the efficacy of economic policy often depends on actual moral
attitudes and practices, and knowledge of philosophical ethics can inform both prescriptive and
descriptive economic analysis. Regarding the latter, many philosophical claims rest on claims about
matters of fact, and empirical findings and the economic toolkit might, in turn, inform and inspire
philosophical analysis.