Ethics of Socioeconomics : : Critical Observations on Capitalism Through the Lens of a Lawyer.
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Superior document: | Economic and Financial Law and Policy - Shifting Insights and Values Series ; v.8 |
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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
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Online Access: | |
Physical Description: | 1 online resource (469 pages) |
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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.