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The Ethics of Money Production

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Handbook of Virtue Ethics in Business and Management

Abstract

Government interventions have always played a central role in the production of money. Invariably, they have been justified by invoking the common good. More than in other applications of virtue ethics, it is therefore necessary to examine the causal nexus between concrete individual actions (monetary interventions) and the common good. The groundwork for this analysis has been laid by Nicolas Oresme in the fourteenth century. In the light of his approach, the main monetary institutions of our present day – fractional-reserve banking and fiat money – appear to be questionable practices that undermine the political, economic, and moral foundations of society.

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Hülsmann, J.G., Scrive, L. (2015). The Ethics of Money Production. In: Sison, A. (eds) Handbook of Virtue Ethics in Business and Management. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6729-4_19-1

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