IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aare00/123729.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The economics of ethical behaviour and environmental management

Author

Listed:
  • Schilizzi, Steven

Abstract

Ethics and economics have long been viewed, if not as being incompatible, at least as being at odds with each other. This has often translated in the field of environmental policy and management into radical opposition between supporters of economic performance and environmentalists. It has seemed that the ethics of economics and that of environmental preservation were themselves at odds. The discussion has opposed utilitarian and duty-based philosophies. Ultimately, the firm manager, especially when under financial pressure, must decide between keeping the firm in business and doing the right thing for the environment. This view of things is now itself at odds with reality. One needs to explain why an increasing number of firms, both big and small, are setting up environmental management systems, making environmental investments and reducing risks over and beyond legal requirements, even when the benefits are not at all obvious, even in the long run. Is it that economics and ethics have not only become compatible, but lend support to each other? If so, how is this possible? What are the social processes at work? And can we come up with a theoretical framework that can describe this new reality? Even at the philosophical level, are utility based and duty based ethics as contradictory as they seem? This paper investigates these questions and shows how, philosophically, the two ethics may be efficiently combined and how an analytical framework may be devised to explain society’s new ‘ethical incentives’ and self-moralising processes. A new role for government emerges.

Suggested Citation

  • Schilizzi, Steven, 2000. "The economics of ethical behaviour and environmental management," 2000 Conference (44th), January 23-25, 2000, Sydney, Australia 123729, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aare00:123729
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.123729
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/123729/files/Schilizzi.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.123729?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:econom:v:42:y:1975:i:168:p:430-37 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Nick Hanley & Clive L. Spash, 1993. "Cost–Benefit Analysis and the Environment," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 205.
    3. Broome,John, 1999. "Ethics out of Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521644914.
    4. Harsanyi, John C., 1992. "Game and decision theoretic models in ethics," Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications, in: R.J. Aumann & S. Hart (ed.), Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 19, pages 669-707, Elsevier.
    5. Sugden, Robert, 1991. "Rational Choice: A Survey of Contributions from Economics and Philosophy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(407), pages 751-785, July.
    6. Dan R. Anderson, 1998. "Development Of Environmental Liability Risk Management And Insurance In The United States: Lessons And Opportunities," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 2(1), pages 1-23, July.
    7. Samuel Brittan & Alan P. Hamlin, 1995. "Market Capitalism and Moral Values," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 63.
    8. Shavell, S., 1986. "The judgment proof problem," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 45-58, June.
    9. Pitchford, Rohan, 1995. "How Liable Should a Lender Be? The Case of Judgment-Proof Firms and Environmental Risk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1171-1186, December.
    10. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Schilizzi, Steven, 2000. "Quality Signaling through Certification," 2000 Conference (44th), January 23-25, 2000, Sydney, Australia 123598, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    11. Broome,John, 1999. "Ethics out of Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521642750.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Sandrine SPAETER, 2002. "Principe de precaution et comportements preventifs des firmes face aux risques environnementaux," Working Papers of BETA 2002-08, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    2. Yeon‐Koo Che & Kathryn E. Spier, 2008. "Strategic judgment proofing," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 39(4), pages 926-948, December.
    3. Mondello, Gérard, 2012. "La responsabilité environnementale des prêteurs : difficultés juridiques et ensemble des possibles," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 88(2), pages 257-278, Juin.
    4. Ole Røgeberg & Morten Nordberg, 2005. "A defence of absurd theories in economics," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 543-562.
    5. Marc Fleurbaey, 2010. "Assessing Risky Social Situations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(4), pages 649-680, August.
    6. McCarthy, David & Mikkola, Kalle & Thomas, Teruji, 2016. "Utilitarianism with and without expected utility," MPRA Paper 72578, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Alan Shiell & Lisa Gold, 2003. "If the price is right: vagueness and values clarification in contingent valuation," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(11), pages 909-919, November.
    8. Preston Greene, 2024. "Social bias, not time bias," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 23(1), pages 100-121, February.
    9. Olof Johansson-Stenman & James Konow, 2010. "Fair Air: Distributive Justice and Environmental Economics," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 46(2), pages 147-166, June.
    10. Gérard Mondello, 2012. "Strict Liability, Capped Strict Liability, and Care Effort under Asymmetric Information," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 168(2), pages 232-251, June.
    11. Helm, Carsten, 2008. "How liable should an exporter be?: The case of trade in hazardous goods," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 263-271, December.
    12. Gul, Ejaz, 2013. "Economic Evaluation of Project Site Using Cardinal Numbers Approach," MPRA Paper 48283, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Charreire, Maxime & Langlais, Eric, 2021. "Should environment be a concern for competition policy when firms face environmental liability?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    14. Ingo Pies & Philipp Schreck & Karl Homann, 2021. "Single-objective versus multi-objective theories of the firm: using a constitutional perspective to resolve an old debate," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 779-811, April.
    15. repec:sae:envval:v:11:y:2002:i:1:p:27-46 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Johansson-Stenman, Olof, 2006. "Cost Benefit Rules when Nature Counts," Working Papers in Economics 198, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics, revised 09 May 2006.
    17. D. Moellendorf, 2011. "A normative account of dangerous climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 108(1), pages 57-72, September.
    18. van 't Veld, Klaas & Shogren, Jason F., 2012. "Environmental federalism and environmental liability," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 105-119.
    19. Seshimo, Hiroyuki, 2022. "Optimal extended liability rule in a competitive financial market with heterogeneous borrower firms," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    20. Bidénam Kambia-Chopin, 2010. "Environmental risks, the judgment-proof problem and financial responsibility," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 77-87, October.
    21. Dietz, Simon, 2009. "From efficiency to justice: utility as the informational basis of climate change strategies, and some alternatives," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 37616, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    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:ags:aare00:123729. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaresea.html .

    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.