What Price the Moral High Ground? Ethical Dilemmas in Competitive Environments

Financial disasters--and stories of the greedy bankers who precipitated them--seem to underscore the idea that self-interest will always trump concerns for the greater good. Indeed, this idea is supported by the prevailing theories in both economics and evolutionary biology. But is it valid? In What...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Frank, Robert H.
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Princeton ; Oxford Princeton University Press 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: DeGruyter MPG Collection - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 03512nmm a2200289 u 4500
001 EB001960979
003 EBX01000000000000001123881
005 00000000000000.0
007 cr|||||||||||||||||||||
008 210412 ||| eng
020 |a 9781400833917 
050 4 |a HF5387 
100 1 |a Frank, Robert H. 
245 0 0 |a What Price the Moral High Ground?  |h Elektronische Ressource  |b Ethical Dilemmas in Competitive Environments  |c Robert H. Frank 
260 |a Princeton ; Oxford  |b Princeton University Press  |c 2014 
300 |a xii, 203 Seiten 
505 0 |a Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Introduction: Infectious Good -- PART I. DOING WELL -- 1. Forging Commitments That Sustain Cooperation -- 2. Can Cooperators Find One Another? -- 3. Adaptive Rationality and the Moral Emotions -- 4. Can Socially Responsible Firms Survive in Competitive Environments? -- PART II. DOING GOOD -- 5. What Price the Moral High Ground? -- 6. Local Status, Fairness, and Wage Compression Revisited -- 7. Motivation, Cognition, and Charitable Giving -- PART III. FORGING BETTER OUTCOMES -- 8. Social Norms as Positional Arms-Control Agreements -- 9. Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation? -- Appendix: Ethics Questionnaire -- Epilogue: The Importance of Sanctions -- References -- Index. 
653 |a Business ethics -- Congresses 
653 |a Cooperativeness -- Moral and ethical aspects 
653 |a Social responsibility of business 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b GRUYMPG  |a DeGruyter MPG Collection 
028 5 0 |a 10.1515/9781400833917 
776 |z 978-0-691-14694-2 
856 4 0 |u https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781400833917  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 174.4 
520 |a Financial disasters--and stories of the greedy bankers who precipitated them--seem to underscore the idea that self-interest will always trump concerns for the greater good. Indeed, this idea is supported by the prevailing theories in both economics and evolutionary biology. But is it valid? In What Price the Moral High Ground?, economist and social critic Robert Frank challenges the notion that doing well is accomplished only at the expense of doing good. Frank explores exciting new work in economics, psychology, and biology to argue that honest individuals often succeed, even in highly competitive environments, because their commitment to principle makes them more attractive as trading partners. Drawing on research he has conducted and published over the past decade, Frank challenges the familiar homo economicus stereotype by describing how people create bonds that sustain cooperation in one-shot prisoner's dilemmas. He goes on to describe how people often choose modestly paid positions in the public and nonprofit sectors over comparable, higher-paying jobs in the for-profit sector; how studying economics appears to inhibit cooperation; how social norms often deter opportunistic behavior; how a given charitable organization manages to appeal to donors with seemingly incompatible motives; how concerns about status and fairness affect salaries in organizations; and how socially responsible firms often prosper despite the higher costs associated with their business practices. Frank's arguments have important implications for the conduct of leaders in private as well as public life. Tossing aside the model of the self-interested homo economicus, Frank provides a tool for understanding how to better structure organizations, public policies, and even our own lives.