Ethics of Socioeconomics : : Critical Observations on Capitalism Through the Lens of a Lawyer.

• Superior document: Economic and Financial Law and Policy - Shifting Insights and Values Series ; v.8
• Author: Byttebier, Koen.
• Place / Publishing House: Cham : : Springer,, 2023.; ©2024.
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Economic and Financial Law and Policy - Shifting Insights and Values Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (469 pages)

Table of Contents

Intro -- Preface -- Disclaimer -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Chapter 1: The Principles of Capitalism Questioned -- 1.1 Capitalism and Economic Liberalism -- 1.1.1 General Situation of Capitalism -- 1.1.2 Basic Characteristics of Capitalism -- 1.1.3 Preliminary Explanation for the Success of Capitalism -- 1.1.4 Preliminary Questioning of the Supposedly 'Rational' Nature of Capitalism -- 1.2 Caesura with Alternative Approaches -- 1.2.1 General -- 1.2.2 In Religion -- 1.2.3 In Philosophy -- 1.2.4 Illustration: Ahimsa -- 1.3 The Intermediate Stop of the Modern Welfare State -- 1.4 Economic Neoliberalism -- 1.5 Specifically: The Neoliberal Agendas of Western Countries Since the 1980s Considered Briefly -- 1.5.1 General -- 1.5.2 The Washington Consensus Model in Particular -- 1.5.3 Concrete Implementation of Economic-Neoliberal Ideas from the 1980s Onward -- 1.5.4 Further Impact of Economic Neoliberalism on Public Finances -- 1.6 Failure of Democracy -- 1.6.1 General -- 1.6.2 Illustration: The British Government Formation of September 2022 -- 1.7 Further Analysis in the Next Chapters -- References -- Chapter 2: Revisiting Some Building Blocks of Contemporary Capitalism that Center Selfishness -- 2.1 General -- 2.1.1 Historical Perspective -- 2.1.2 Further Research Methodology -- 2.2 Credit and Banking as Methods of Wealth Accumulation -- 2.2.1 Problem Statement -- 2.2.2 Philosophers of Classical Antiquity -- 2.2.3 The Gospel of Jesus Christ -- 2.2.4 Evolution in the Middle Ages -- 2.2.5 Lending in Capitalism -- 2.2.6 The Rationality of the Prevailing Money Creation Model, Relying on Private Credit, Persistently Questioned -- 2.3 The Capitalist Enterprise and Its Labor Relations -- 2.3.1 The Inherent Class Struggle Created by Capitalism -- 2.3.1.1 Background -- 2.3.1.2 The Two Main Classes of Capitalism: Entrepreneurs vs. Laborers.

2.3.2 Overriding Nature of the Neoliberal Model of Conducting an Enterprise -- 2.3.3 Preliminary Conclusions -- 2.4 Market Reasoning -- 2.4.1 General -- 2.4.2 An Expanded Field of Action for Free Market(s) -- 2.4.2.1 A Double Expansion of the Domain of the Free Market Orchestrated by Economic Neoliberalism -- 2.4.2.2 Illustrations of Sectors Transferred to the Domain of the Free Market -- 2.4.2.2.1 Sectors Whose Transfer Has Already Been Largely Accomplished (Job Placement-Vocational Training-Energy) -- 2.4.2.2.2 Sectors Whose Transfer to the Free Market Is (Still) Ongoing -- 2.4.2.2.2.1 General -- 2.4.2.2.2.2 The Sectors of Nursing Homes and Hospitals -- 2.4.2.2.2.3 The Social Security Sectors -- 2.4.2.2.2.4 Education -- 2.4.2.2.2.5 Preliminary Conclusions -- 2.4.3 Artificial Nature of the Arguments Invoked in Support of the Primacy of the Free Market Model -- 2.4.3.1 General -- 2.4.3.2 The Fallacies of Economic Neoliberalism -- 2.4.3.3 The Free Market as a System that (Always) Puts the Interests of the Rich First -- 2.4.3.3.1 Problem Statement -- 2.4.3.3.2 Illustration Using the Capitalist Money Creation Model -- 2.4.4 The Flipside of the Coin: The Shrinkage of the Domain of the Public Interest -- 2.4.5 Ineffectiveness of the Free Market Model as a Sound Economic System -- 2.4.6 Preliminary Conclusions -- 2.5 Capitalism and Competition -- 2.6 Operation of Intellectual Rights -- 2.6.1 Problem Statement -- 2.6.2 Illustration: Application to COVID-19 Vaccines -- 2.7 Inheritance Law -- 2.8 Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 3: Unsustainability of the Capitalist Socio-Economic Order -- 3.1 Unsustainability of the Economic Growth Model -- 3.1.1 Genesis of the Economic Growth Model -- 3.1.1.1 From the Satisfaction of Basic Life Needs to Fledgling Economic Models Relying on Labor Specialization and Increasingly Complex Production.

3.1.1.2 Emergence of the Merchant Profession -- 3.1.1.3 Administration and Religion (Later: Nobility and Clergy) -- 3.1.1.4 Correlation Between the Rise of Modern Banking and the Economic Growth Model (and Therefore the Rise of the Modern Entrepreneurial Class) -- 3.1.2 Perverse Side Effect 1 of the Capitalist Economic Growth Model: Depletion and Exploitation of the Human Race -- 3.1.2.1 Correlation Between the Capitalist Economic Growth and Employment Models -- 3.1.2.1.1 General -- 3.1.2.1.2 Early Capitalist Models of Exploitation (Sixteenth to Seventeenth Century) -- 3.1.2.1.3 Relationship Between the Capitalist Profit-Seeking Principle and Capitalist Exploitative Behavior -- 3.1.2.1.4 Reduction of the Economy to an End Rather Than a Means, and of Man and His Life to a Means, Rather Than the Highest End -- 3.1.2.1.5 Contemporary Crystallization of the Capitalist Model of Employment as a Rationalized, Universal Model of Exploitation -- 3.1.2.1.6 Continued Importance of Corrections and Tempering -- 3.1.2.2 Exploitation Under Economic Neoliberalism -- 3.1.2.2.1 Alleged Incompatibility of Economic Efficiency with the Welfare State Model -- 3.1.2.2.2 The Reality Behind Neoliberal Theorizing -- 3.1.3 Perverse Side Effect 2 of the Capitalist Economic Growth Model: Depletion of the Natural Habitat -- 3.1.3.1 General -- 3.1.3.2 The Intrinsically Destructive Power of the Agrarian and Industrial Revolutions -- 3.1.3.3 The Proverbial Neoliberal Icing on the Capitalist Cake -- 3.1.4 Environmental Pollution and Climate Change -- 3.1.4.1 Problem Statement -- 3.1.4.1.1 Origins of Environmental Problems -- 3.1.4.1.2 Philosophical and Religious Opposition to an Economy Driven by Artificial Needs -- 3.1.4.1.3 Magnification of the Environmental Problems Under Capitalism -- 3.1.4.2 A Selection of Recent Research Findings -- 3.1.4.2.1 General.

3.1.4.2.2 The IPCC Report 'Climate Change 2022. Mitigation of Climate Change' (April 2022) -- 3.1.4.2.3 The UNICEF Report 'Innocenti Report Card 17. Places and Spaces. Environments and Children's Well-Being' -- 3.1.4.2.4 Data Provided by the WHO (of 2018 and 2022, Respectively) -- 3.1.4.2.5 Observations from The Guardian (June 2022) -- 3.1.4.2.6 Observations of Oxfam (June 2022) -- 3.1.4.2.7 The WMO Report 'United in Science' (September 2022) -- 3.1.4.2.8 Memorandum Dated September 14, 2022, from the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the Congress of the U.S. House of Representatives -- 3.1.4.2.9 The Emissions Gap Report 2022 -- 3.1.4.2.10 (The Failure of) the UN Cop27 Climate Conference (November 2022) -- 3.1.4.3 Why the Stakes Are Getting Increasingly Higher -- 3.1.4.3.1 General -- 3.1.4.3.2 Rising Temperatures -- 3.1.4.3.3 Rising Sea Levels: The Example of Fiji -- 3.1.4.3.4 Declining Biodiversity -- 3.1.4.4 Provisional Conclusions -- 3.2 Untenability of an Unjust Lifeworld -- 3.2.1 Why Inequality and Unfreedom Are Ingrained Ingredients of Capitalism -- 3.2.1.1 The Liberal/Neoliberal Side of the Coin: Once More Revisiting the Trickle-Down Economics Approach -- 3.2.1.2 Further Background of the Liberal Philosophy from Which the Trickle-Down Economics Approach Emerged -- 3.2.1.3 Lasting Impact of Liberal Thought -- 3.2.1.4 Effects of Liberal Thought on the Organization of Societies -- 3.2.1.5 How the Premises of Liberal Thinking on Doing Business Have Further Given Shape to the Capitalist Economy -- 3.2.1.6 How (Because of the Foregoing) Inequality and Unfreedom (Continue to) Prevail in Capitalism -- 3.2.1.7 Neoliberal Toleration of a Continuing Government Role -- 3.2.1.7.1 Liberal and Neoliberal Views on the Role of the State -- 3.2.1.7.2 The Demise of the Welfare State Model.

3.2.2 Balancing the (Legal) Ideas of Freedom and Equality Against the Capitalist Recipes of Exploitation -- 3.2.2.1 General -- 3.2.2.2 Freedom -- 3.2.2.2.1 The Liberal Concept of Freedom in Theory -- 3.2.2.2.2 Perception of the Liberal Freedom Idea in the Nineteenth Century -- 3.2.2.2.3 Freedom During the Short Break of the Welfare State Model -- 3.2.2.2.4 Freedom Since the Implementation of Economic Neoliberalism -- 3.2.2.3 Equality -- 3.2.2.3.1 The Liberal Equality Concept in Theory -- 3.2.2.3.2 Perception of the Equality Idea in Practice -- 3.2.2.4 Societal Problems Created by the (Neo)liberal Impact on Equality and Freedom -- 3.2.2.5 And the Idea of Solidarity…? -- 3.2.2.6 Conclusions -- 3.2.3 Quid at Further Depletion of Free Markets and Contraction of the Domain of Public Interest? -- 3.2.3.1 Question -- 3.2.3.2 How the Energy Sector Was Endangered -- 3.2.3.3 How the Financial Sector Was Endangered -- 3.2.3.4 Evolutions in Certain Other Public Sectors -- 3.2.3.4.1 Introduction -- 3.2.3.4.2 Education -- 3.2.3.4.2.1 Background -- 3.2.3.4.2.2 Situation in Belgium -- 3.2.3.4.2.3 Situation at a Global Level -- 3.2.3.4.3 Health and Care Sectors -- 3.2.3.4.4 Further Evolutions and Prospects of the Care and Education Sectors -- 3.3 Poverty and Polarization Between Rich and Poor -- 3.3.1 Poverty -- 3.3.2 Increasing Polarization Between Rich and Poor -- 3.3.2.1 General -- 3.3.2.2 Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Profit Motive of Large Enterprises in General, and Within the Energy and Food Sectors in Particular -- 3.3.2.3 Empirical Data on the Polarization Rich-Poor -- 3.3.2.3.1 Data Provided by Oxfam, CBS News, and Forbes -- 3.3.2.3.2 Analysis of Balla -- 3.3.2.3.3 Findings of the World Inequity Report 2022 -- 3.3.2.3.4 Findings of Crédit Suisse's Global Wealth Report 2022 -- 3.3.2.4 Evolution Toward a Plutonomy -- 3.3.2.5 Inflation in 2022.

3.3.2.6 The Big Dupe of All This: The Working and Poor Classes.