IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v159y2019i1d10.1007_s10551-017-3756-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can a Good Person be a Good Trader? An Ethical Defense of Financial Trading

Author

Listed:
  • Marta Rocchi

    (Pontificia Università della Santa Croce)

  • David Thunder

    (Universidad de Navarra)

Abstract

In a 2015 article entitled “The Irrelevance of Ethics,” MacIntyre argues that acquiring the moral virtues would undermine someone’s capacity to be a good trader in the financial system and, conversely, that a proper training in the virtues of good trading directly militates against the acquisition of the moral virtues. In this paper, we reconsider MacIntyre’s rather damning indictment of financial trading, arguing that his negative assessment is overstated. The financial system is in fact more internally diverse and dynamic, and more reformable, than suggested by MacIntyre’s treatment. The challenge at the heart of MacIntyre’s claims can be crystallized in the question, “under which conditions, if any, can a person be an effective trader and simultaneously live a worthy human life?” We conclude that there are realistic possibilities of integrity and growth in moral virtue for those who work in the financial sector, at least for those operating in a work environment minimally permissive toward virtue, provided they possess characters of integrity and genuine aptitude for the skills and attitudes required in their professional tasks.

Suggested Citation

  • Marta Rocchi & David Thunder, 2019. "Can a Good Person be a Good Trader? An Ethical Defense of Financial Trading," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 89-103, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:159:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3756-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3756-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-017-3756-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-017-3756-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2016_031 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Taylor Smith & Walter E. Block, 2016. "The Economics of Insider Trading: A Free Market Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(1), pages 47-53, November.
    3. Khwaja, Asim Ijaz & Mian, Atif, 2005. "Unchecked intermediaries: Price manipulation in an emerging stock market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 203-241, October.
    4. Neal,Larry, 2015. "A Concise History of International Finance," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107621213, January.
    5. Johan Graafland & Bert Ven, 2011. "The Credit Crisis and the Moral Responsibility of Professionals in Finance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(4), pages 605-619, November.
    6. Keith Wyma, 2015. "The Case for Investment Advising as a Virtue-Based Practice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 231-249, March.
    7. Neal,Larry, 2015. "A Concise History of International Finance," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107034174, January.
    8. Freeman, Richard Barry, 2010. "It's financialization!," Scholarly Articles 34548957, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    9. Richard B. FREEMAN, 2010. "It's financialization!," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 149(2), pages 163-183, June.
    10. Robert J. Shiller, 2012. "Finance and the Good Society," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9652.
    11. Bonnie G. Buchanan, 2016. "Securitization: A Financing Vehicle for All Seasons?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 138(3), pages 559-577, October.
    12. Michael J. Mauboussin & Dan Callahan, 2015. "A Long Look at Short-Termism: Questioning the Premise," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 27(3), pages 70-82, September.
    13. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2001. "Boys will be Boys: Gender, Overconfidence, and Common Stock Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(1), pages 261-292.
    14. James Angel & Douglas McCabe, 2009. "The Ethics of Speculation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 277-286, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ouriemmi, Oussama & Gérard, Benoît, 2023. "Control dynamics in rogue trading: Sovereignty and exception-to-the-rule attitudes in the contemporary financial sphere," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sheridan Titman & Chishen Wei. Wei & Bin Zhao, 2021. "Corporate Actions and the Manipulation of Retail Investors in China: An Analysis of Stock Splits," NBER Working Papers 29212, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Simplice Asongu & Ndemaze Asongu, 2018. "The comparative exploration of mobile money services in inclusive development," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 45(1), pages 124-139, January.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2017. "Recent finance advances in information technology for inclusive development: a survey," Research Africa Network Working Papers 17/009, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    4. repec:jle:journl:173 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Randall Morck & Bernard Yeung & Wayne Yu, 2013. "R-squared and the Economy," NBER Working Papers 19017, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Irene Brunetti & Davide Fiaschi & Lisa Gianmoena & Angela Parenti, 2017. "Volatility in European regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 96(4), pages 697-720, November.
    7. Anthony Asher & Tracy Wilcox, 2022. "Virtue and Risk Culture in Finance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 223-236, August.
    8. Heshmati, Almas & Kim, Jungsuk, 2014. "A Survey of the Role of Fiscal Policy in Addressing Income Inequality, Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Growth," IZA Discussion Papers 8119, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Titman, Sheridan & Wei, Chishen & Zhao, Bin, 2022. "Corporate actions and the manipulation of retail investors in China: An analysis of stock splits," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(3), pages 762-787.
    10. Marta Rocchi & Ignacio Ferrero, 2014. "Systematic Shared Value in Finance: Expanding Porter's Approach," Faculty Working Papers 07/14, School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Navarra.
    11. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2016. "Rational Asymmetric Development, Piketty and Poverty in Africa," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 13(2), pages 221-246, December.
    12. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2018. "Recent finance advances in information technology for inclusive development: a systematic review," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 65-93, October.
    13. M. G. Ceravolo & V. Farina & L. Fattobene & L. Leonelli & G. Raggetti, 2021. "Gender-Related Variability in Information Processing of Disclosure Documents," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 217-233, June.
    14. Nogues-Marco, Pilar, 2017. "Money Markets and Exchange Rates in Pre-Industrial Europe," Working Papers unige:100808, University of Geneva, Paul Bairoch Institute of Economic History.
    15. Inghelbrecht, Koen & Tedde, Mariachiara, 2024. "Overconfidence, financial literacy and excessive trading," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 152-195.
    16. Chilosi, David & Schulze, Max-Stephan & Volckart, Oliver, 2018. "Benefits of Empire? Capital Market Integration North and South of the Alps, 1350–1800," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 78(3), pages 637-672, September.
    17. Simplice Asongu, 2015. "Rational Asymmetric Development, Piketty and the Spirit of Poverty in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 15/006, African Governance and Development Institute..
    18. Brahim Gaies, 2021. "La globalisation financière et ses crises : une continuité de l'Antiquité à nos jours ?," Post-Print hal-03767392, HAL.
    19. Andrea Roncella & Ignacio Ferrero, 2020. "A MacIntyrean Perspective on the Collapse of a Money Market Fund," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 29-43, August.
    20. Simplice A. Asongu & Lieven De Moor, 2015. "Recent advances in finance for inclusive development: a survey," Research Africa Network Working Papers 15/005, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    21. Ribeiro, Barbara & Shapira, Philip, 2020. "Private and public values of innovation: A patent analysis of synthetic biology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:159:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3756-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.