What moral obligations do businesses have to the environment? What responsibility does the government have to regulate the balance between social and market costs? This essay explores social responsibility and environmental ethics through the analysis of Pigouvian taxation, specifically in the context of a tax on carbon emissions in Massachusetts.
This passage declares that fulfillment derives from purpose, which is acquired through the long-term pursuit of self-improvement. Modern capitalism presents two primary devices that distract us from (and distort our notions of) meaningful work – entertainment and wage labor. Through the contemplation of work and leisure, this passage explores the nature of labor, exploitation, and fulfillment.
This paper contrasts the supply-side economic theory of Reaganomics to the Keynesian thought of the mid-twentieth century. Keeping in mind the many factors influencing the economy over the last century, this essay compares each theory’s impact on the American lower and middle classes.
This article briefly explores Max Weber’s famous work ‘The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism’ (1905), which describes the immense influence of rationalized religious beliefs (specifically those which arose from the Protestant Reformation) in creating the social conditions necessary for modern capitalism to develop.
Over 200 years after his birth, this article reflects on the challenges that Marx predicted would curse the future of capitalism – and why such predictions have or haven’t come true. In the process, we begin to understand not only the intricate mind of Karl Marx but the strengths and weaknesses of capitalism itself.
