Morality & Markets: The Ethics of Government Regulation

Morality & Markets poses the question: “What morally justifies government intervention in the commercial affairs of private citizens?” Its author, Edward Soule, proposes what he dubs a Regulatory Strategy, a set of rules for determining the moral legitimacy of regulation. The strategy combines the political philosophies of John Locke and John Stuart Mill with economic theory and commercial history. Soule then puts his framework into action, testing the morality of regulation in contemporary commercial disputes, including capital markets and genetically modified foods.