Ethical Codes and Income Distribution: A Study of John Bates Clark and Thorstein Veblen

In recent years increased attention has been given to continuing disparities in income, both in the developed and in developing countries.Ethical Codes and Income Distributionbrings an important new dimension to this important issue. Questions such as does "morality" affect income distribution? And what are the effects of the widespread adoption of ethical codes on the functioning of the labor market? Are explored. This book utilizes the contrasting works of John Bates Clark and Thorstein Velben in order to illuminate the propagation of ethical codes within the two opposing frameworks i.e. the neoclassical and the institutional. John Bates Clark, in the history of economic thought - emphasized the role of market mechanisms in spontaneously propagating "fair" codes of behavior, thus giving rise to a "just" income distribution. Thorstein Velben underlines the importance of bargaining in the socio-political arena in determining the ethical codes adopted in a given society, in given historicalcontexts. Arguing external interventions -- social conflict, above all -- are necessary in order to drive institutional changes, in the event of the existing institutions being considered "unjust." Given this theoretical framework, this book also explores the effects of labor market deregulation on economic as well as on "moral" growth.

Guglielmo Forges Davanzati is Associate Professor of History of Economic Thought at the University of Lecce, Italy.