Abstract
This paper discusses Buchanan’s ideas on the “extent of the market” and the associated ethical questions. Buchanan demonstrates that a work ethic generates economy-wide benefits, i.e., enhanced productivity of input factor, in a setting of generalized increasing returns. He analyzes ethics as a public good question in a moral community. The two topics, “extent of the market” and “ethics”, have externality as a common element; and the size matters in both cases. The work ethic has economic contents as the market nexus extends, while ethical rules are difficult to emerge in large numbers. The paper resolves the dilemma.
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Yoon, Y.J. (2018). The Extent of the Market and Ethics. In: Wagner, R. (eds) James M. Buchanan. Remaking Economics: Eminent Post-War Economists. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03080-3_36
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03080-3_36
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