Economics as a Moral Philosophy

Economics is not a science, it is a moral philosophy. The act of reducing human labor and production to materialistic metrics to be optimized for, is an act of administrative terrorism against the labor force and the local community.

Administrative materialism, by its very nature, is a perverse incentive structure, that can only be applied when you feel no connection to your employees or the community they exist within. Adam Smith articulated this idea clearly, and believed it would be a check on market failure.

“How selfish man may be supposed, there are evidently principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.” -Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments

When interpreting Smith, understand that he wrote during the 18th Century, a time of city-states. Although he anticipated globalism, he would not have imagined that the owners of a firm would have no tangible connection to the community where production took place.

An employer naturally feels responsible for his labor force and draws pride from enriching their lives as they provide their labor to advance his interests. Local responsibility results in a virtuous circle, a positive reinforcing loop of incentives.

Globalization specifically capitalizes on the lack of responsibility that shareholders feel, not only to their employees, but to the entire society. It is fundamentally an abdication of moral responsibility.

Globalism conditionally subverts local morality because that’s exactly what it capitalizes on. Economics has always been a moral philosophy, and it could never be anything else.