Financial decision-making and moral responsibility

de Stephen F. Frowen, Francis P. McHugh

These essays present the proceedings of a conference at which financial policy-makers, bankers and academic economists debated with ethicians and theologians. In addition to a generalised discussion of the philosophy of economics and its relation to moral ideas, the papers address particular topics which include the role and responsibilities of central banks, inbuilt deficiencies of the financial system, moral conflicts in commercial and investment banking and in securities markets, problems of sovereignty and hegemony in the European monetary union, moral issues in international monetary relations, and the ethics of capital transfers to Eastern Europe and of financial liberalisation. The moral dilemmas identified by the academic economists and financial practitioners are scrutinised by ethicians and theologians, and the final paper proposes an ethic of financial decision-making.