Market, Ethics and Religion
Workshop February 6-7, 2014
The interrelation between people and between people and society is regulated by many different
institutions, e.g. laws, ethics, norms, religion and markets. Law imposes restrictions on the actions
allowed. The same is the case with "soft law" in form of ethics, norms and religion. Markets impose
economic restrictions on people's actions.
For more than a hundred years the trend has gone in direction of letting more and more issues be
regulated by the markets. A very early example is the Danish agricultural reforms after 1784 where
a traditional agriculture regulated by common decisions in villages was changed to a system with
individual, profit maximizing and privately owned farms as regulated by market mechanisms. This
trend has accelerated in the last decades. Moral, norms and religion have lost importance. Earlier a
"Lutherian labour moral" determined the labour intensity in Scandinavia; now it is determined by
economic incentives on the labour market. Earlier the infrastructure in most countries was public
and controlled by political decisions; now it is often managed by market-oriented profit maximizing
firms, e.g. telephone companies.
There are a number of reasons for this development. Some of the older regulations were based on
national laws or religion, and both nations and religion have lost importance in our part of the
world. In many situations, market regulations were supported by economic theory, and in a number
of important countries liberal or liberal-conservative parties have formed governments for longer
periods of time.
However, market mechanisms also have many drawbacks. These mechanisms do not guarantee any
justice in the income distribution. There can be market external effects such as pollution. Trade with
human organs, blood and sex is often seen as unethical. Usury and exploitation of the weak
members of society must – according to ethics and religion – often be condemned, sometimes even
directly forbidden.
This makes it highly relevant to discuss which part of society can be regulated by market
mechanisms and which must be left for regulation by moral, norms and religion. This discussion is
the topic for this interdisciplinary workshop where economists, theologians, philosophers, social
scientist etc. can meet and analyze the problems. If you want to participate please send a mail with
you name, institution and education to Astrid Krabbe Trolle email fmz310@hum.ku.dk. There is no
fee but perhaps a small payment if you want to participate in the dinner. For further informations
contact Niels Kærgård, Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen,
email nik@ifro.ku.dk.
Time: Thursday-Friday February 6-7 2014
Place: Videnskabernes Selskab (The Danish Academy of Science and Letters), H.C.Andersens
Boulevard 35, Copenhagen V
Program
Thursday February 6
12.30-13.00 Welcome and introduction
Niels Kærgård, University of Copenhagen
13.00-14.50 The market and its limitations
Chairman: Niels Kærgård
Agnar Sandmo, Bergen: The markets in economics
Peter Birch Sørensen, University of Copenhagen: The importance of market failure
Hans Aage, RUC: Income distribution, the market and unequal exchange
14.50-15.20 Coffee break
15.20-16.40 Good and bad in economics
Chairman: Jesper Jespersen
Tomas Sedlacek, Charles University of Prague: Economics of Good and Evil
Michele Micheletti, Statsvetenskapeliga Institutionen, Stockholm University: Political
Consumarism
16.40-16.55 Break
16.55-18.45: What you can’t buy for money
Chairman: Margit Warburg
Hanne Petersen, University of Copenhagen: Gender, sex and the market
Karsten Klint Jensen, University of Copenhagen: Can you buy a good conscience for
money
Peder J. Pedersen, Aarhus University: Happiness, market and economy
Dinner 19.00
20.30-21.15: Vincent F. Hendricks: Scientific truth, science bubbles and the market
Friday February 7
9.00-11.00: Lutheranism and economy
Chairman: Lisbet Christoffersen
Martin Schwarz Lausten, University of Copenhagen: Renteproblemet hos Luther og de
danske reformatorer (In Danish)
Svend Andersen, Aarhus University: The lutheranian social ethics
Jørn Henrik Petersen, University of Southern Denmark: Income distribution,
Christianity and the Danish welfare state
11.00-11.30 Coffee Break
11.30-13.00: Other religions and the economy
Chairman: Jacob Dahl Rendtorff
Else Britt Nilsen, Menighedsfakultetet i Oslo: Catholic Social Teaching - The Church's
'best kept secret’
Jørgen S. Nielsen: Islamic attitude to markets, interest rate and social questions
13.00-14.00: Lunch
14.00-15.20: Economics, ethics and theology
Chairman: Hans Raun Iversen
Niels Kærgård, University of Copenhagen: Markets, ethics and religion
Philip Goodchild, University of Nottingham: Theology of money
15.20-15.50: Coffee break
15.50-17.45: Religion, society and policy
Chairman: Niels Kærgård
Peter Lüchau, University of Copenhagen : Religion, political attitudes and moral in
recent Denmark
Jacob Dahl Rendtorff, University of Roskilde: Ethics, religion and the corporate social
responcibility
Ove Korsgaard, Aarhus University: Religion, nation og sammenhængskraft (In
Danish)
17.45 Farewell drinks