Description
Book SynopsisThe Moral Case for Profit Maximization argues that profit maximization is moral when businessmen seek to maximize profit by creating goods or services that are of objective value. Traditionally, profit maximization has been defended on economic grounds. Profit, economists argue, incentivizes businessmen to produce goods and services. In this view, businessmen do not need to be virtuous so long as they deliver the goods. This book challenges the traditional defense of profit maximization, arguing that profit maximization is morally ambitious because it requires businessmen to form normative abstractions and to cultivate a virtuous character. In so doing, this book also challenges the moral basis of corporate social responsibility. Proponents of CSR argue that businessmen can do good while doing well. This book argues that businessmen already do good by maximizing profit. This book draws upon the histories of the wheel, the refrigerator, and the shipping container to demonstrate the role
Trade Review"Robert White writes elegantly. The economic function of profit is well understood, yet, still often needed is explanation of the ethical significance of profit as reward-both material and symbolic-for productive achievement within a system of voluntary transactions. White argues forthrightly with compelling examples and clear logic." -- Stephen Hicks, Rockford University
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Chapter One: The Questions of Profit Maximization
Chapter Two: Why Profit Maximization is Moral
Chapter Three: The Objective Value of Goods and Services
Chapter Four: The Virtues of Businessmen
Chapter Five: Clarifying Confusions About Profit Maximization
Chapter Six: Incomplete Defenses of Profit Maximization
Chapter Seven: The Inconvenient Truth About Corporate Social Responsibility
Conclusion
