Epistemic Aspects of Economic Practice and the Need for Professional Economic Ethics

George DeMartino

Review of Social Economy, 2013, vol. 71, issue 2, 166-186

Abstract: This paper explores ethical burdens facing the economics profession which are associated with epistemic features of economic practice. Economists exert power over those they purport to serve by virtue of epistemic asymmetry between themselves and others, i.e., the intellectual monopoly they enjoy over a vitally important body of knowledge. But they also face the problem of epistemic insufficiency, which implies that they may do substantial harm as they try to do good. The paper explores the ethical entailments of the epistemic features of economics, and argues that managing the ethical challenges requires a new field of inquiry, the field of professional economic ethics, and not just a code of conduct.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1080/00346764.2013.799967

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