Moral Markets: The Critical Role of Values in the Economy

This is an interesting and important collection of essays, indicating some important shifts of thinking and some of the positive benefits of work in "neuro-economics." The title of the volume has a double meaning: (1) that (some or all) markets are intrinsically and morally good, or (2) that despite the role of self-interest, market transactions are unavoidably infused with moral considerations. The comments on the back cover point to the latter meaning, redolent of Adam Smith in the Moral Sentiments. So I was disappointed to find that the editor and some of the contributors also entertain a crude version of the first.