Ethics and Monetary Theory: Is There a Common Middle Ground?

Abstract

The current bust has brought a boom to at least one area: the subject of business ethics. While ethics in the general business realm is hotly debated, the monetary sphere is woefully neglected. Jörg Guido Hülsmann’s (2009) The Ethics of Money Production has revived interest in applying an ethical foundation to monetary theory – specifically, bouts of inflation. Given that Central Banks – those institutions entrusted with the control and issuance of a country’s currency – regularly “earn” profits far in excess of what conventional deposit banks report, an ethical assessment is in order. Pushing economics back to its original position as a “moral science” is a welcome move. Monetary economics may be the area most in need of this shift, and will yield the greatest advancements when it is finally achieved.