On Ethics, Economists, and Economics

Prompted by discussion of a recent film, the “Inside Job” (see here and here for reviews), John Steele of the Legal Ethics Forum asks, “Do Economists Need a Code of Ethics?” I give a brief reply in two comments (please bear in mind that these are blog comments, hence the subject is addressed in a somewhat cursory manner).

Update: I’ve responded in the comments section above to a question from Professor Mark D. White of the Economics and Ethics blog asking what I think of the argument of Deirdre McCloskey and others “that markets are consistent with classical ideas of the good life, eudaimonia, etc.”

[Cross-posted at ReligiousLeftLaw.com]