Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals? - by Virgil Henry Storr & Ginny Seung Choi (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The most damning criticism of markets is that they are morally corrupting. As we increasingly engage in market activity, the more likely we are to become selfish, corrupt, rapacious and debased. Even Adam Smith, who famously celebrated markets, believed that there were moral costs associated with life in market societies.

This book explores whether or not engaging in market activities is morally corrupting. Storr and Choi demonstrate that people in market societies are wealthier, healthier, happier and better connected than those in societies where markets are more restricted. More provocatively, they explain that successful markets require and produce virtuous participants. Markets serve as moral spaces that both rely on and reward their participants for being virtuous. Rather than harming individuals morally, the market is an arena where individuals are encouraged to be their best moral selves. Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals? invites us to reassess the claim that markets corrupt our morals.

From the Back Cover

The most damning criticism of markets is that they are morally corrupting. As we increasingly engage in market activity, the more likely we are to become selfish, corrupt, rapacious and debased. Even Adam Smith, who famously celebrated markets, believed that there were moral costs associated with life in market societies.

This book explores whether or not engaging in market activities is morally corrupting. Storr and Choi demonstrate that people in market societies are wealthier, healthier, happier and better connected than those of societies where markets are more restricted. More provocatively, they explain that successful markets require and produce virtuous participants. Markets serve as moral spaces that both rely on and reward their participants for being virtuous. Rather than harming individuals morally, the market is an arena where individuals are encouraged to be their best moral selves. Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals? invites us to reassessthe claim that markets corrupt our morals.

Review Quotes

"Storr and Choi are to be commended for directly addressing the question perennially put to markets--do they corrupt us?--and demonstrating that markets need not apologize for viciousness. They also are to be praised for the form of their argument that allows students of morality and markets across and outside academic disciplines ... . This reader enjoyed gathering evidence to spread the good news that the market improves our lives both materially and morally." (Brianne Wolf, The Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 36 (1), 2023)

"The merit of this book is that it does take on those arguments and concerns directly, and offers some persuasive answers and attractive avenues for further inquiry." (Michael Munger, Public Choice, Vol. 185, 2020)

About the Author

Virgil Henry Storr is Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University and the Don C. Lavoie Senior Fellow in the F.A. Hayek Program in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the Mercatus Center.

Ginny Seung Choi is Associate Director of Academic & Student Programs; a Senior Fellow in the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics and Economics; and a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Previously, she was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Saint Vincent College.