A Humanistic Market Economy

Abstract

Humanistic capitalism is a concept that seeks to marry humanism, specifically the safety and health needs of people and the environment, with an embrace of market forces. In line with the sustainable development concept, a “responsible” firm operating within the market economy system integrates the objectives of sustainability in its entrepreneurial business model, while fully assuming its economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. By adopting the posture of societal responsibility, the firm commits itself to ethical behaviour, which implies a reason for its decisions and their consequences with reference to a value system sufficiently universal to guide the decisions and the strategic options of a firm operating in a globalized market economy. In a market economy, profits cannot be too high, but, rather, excessive or unjustified, because they are achieved through unfair competitive advantages, corruption or destructive speculations, misuse of the labour force and of the environment or sale of harmful products. If the firm’s profit does not deserve credit, a fundamental pillar of the economic system is dangerously weakened, thereby questioning its social efficacy and its moral legitimacy.