Impoverished consumers,Catholic social teaching,and distributive justice

Consistent with the goals of the special issue of Journal of Business Research, this paper examines the 1986 pastoral letter of the U.S. Catholic bishops titled, Economic Justice for All, and its impact on marketing practice for the last 25 years. The brief literature review places this text within the larger context of Catholic Social Teaching and marketing practice, teasing out four testable propositions for examining social and distributive justice. The evidence presented from a variety of secondary sources reveals a lack of sustained progress to meet the goals inherent in the bishops' appeal. To advance their arguments, modifications to the ways marketers are educated, incentivized, and reviewed are posited, with a final secular way of considering these principles.     

Why is the bishops' letter on the U.S. economy so unconvincing?

This paper evaluates the rhetoric of the U.S. bishops' pastoral letter on the U.S. economy from two perspectives. Is the letter convincing? Does it conform to the “conversational norms of civilization?” The paper argues that the bishops' letter fails by both standards because it ignores serious research on the U.S. economy, it misstates important facts about the economy, and it sneers at professional economists. The paper concludes that the bishops' letter will not be convincing to well informed readers.     

Industry associations as facilitators of social capital: The establishment and early operations of the Melbourne Woolbrokers Association

Relocation of the selling of Australia's wool clip from London to cities in Australia in the late nineteenth century led to the creation of wool selling industry associations, such as the Melbourne Woolbrokers Association (MWA). Highly successful in fostering competitive collaboration that improved market efficiency, the Association rested on the social capital brought to it and further developed by the participants, individuals with extensive connections in the pastoral, banking and transport industries. The collective social capital vested in the Association enabled the earning of economic rents, firstly from the high trust created through internal cohesion reinforced by formalised sanctions, and secondly from a capacity to span ‘structural holes’ between networks outside of the Association.     

中国经济发展的社会先行资本问题

社会先行资本是一个国家经济起飞和经济社会长期发展的重要支持条件之一,它与经济社会的长期发展具有很强的相关性。我国社会先行资本投入与发展的滞后,成为我国经济社会发展的严重制约因素。针对我国社会先行资本部门发展滞后的状况,本文认为,必须将社会先行资本部门超前发展作为长期战略,将社会先行资本部门作为发展重点,以规模性资金投入弥补社会先行资本发展的空白期,打破社会先行资本部门垄断格局,确定社会先行资本部门合理的投资回报率,建立社会先行资本部门多元主体进入的投资机制。     

The ideology of social justice in economic justice for all

Although both the American Catholic bishops and their commentators seem to agree that the economics pastoral is capitalist, if anything, in its ideology, a careful reading of the pastoral shows that the principle of social justice implicit in it is actually socialist, indeed communist, in nature. The bishops arrived at such a principle because of their interpretation of the biblical sense of justice as entailing a preferential option for the poor. To justify this option on a rational basis, they developed a theory of social justice that may be summarized in the principle, familiar from Marx's writings, From each according to one's ability, to each according to one's needs. Whether or not the bishops intended such a convergence in principle, this development sets them at odds with the capitalist ideology of the United States. William E. Murnion, S.T.L. (Gregorian University, 1958), Ph.D. in Philosophy (Gregorian University, 1970), is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Ramapo College of New Jersey, where he teaches an ethics course for the business school. Recent publications include The Logic of Learning, Foundations of Ethics, and Nuclear Violence: A Philosophical Framework for the Problem.     

浅析我国民营银行的发展

长期以来,我国一直排斥民营资本进入金融市场。这一垄断性金融制度安排,在改革初期对经济增长起到了推动作用,但是随着改革的进行,这一安排所带来的弊端日趋严重,已经无法继续按原有模式为经济发展提供支持。我国加入WTO后,必然会在金融领域中遇到外资银行的强烈挑战,在对外开放金融业之前,也应实现对内开放,允许民营资本进入金融领域,发展民营银行。     

How Can Business Ethics Strengthen the Social Cohesion of a Society?

The essay aims to show how business ethics—understood as a three-level approach—can strengthen the social cohesion of a society, which is jeopardized today in many ways. In the first part, the purpose of business and the economy is explained as the creation of wealth defined as a combination of private and public wealth that includes natural, economic, human, and social capital. Special emphasis is placed on the implications of the creation of public wealth which requires institutions other than the market and motivations other than self-regarding ones. In the second part, the question of what holds a society together is discussed through different approaches: enlightened self-interest, a new game-theoretical approach, and the concept of the common good advanced by Catholic Social Teaching, followed by my own proposal. The third part presents several perspectives for business ethics to strengthen social cohesion of a society (a) by focusing on the purpose of business and the economy to create natural, economic, human, and social capital; (b) by advancing public goods that stand the test of ethical scrutiny; and (c) by securing human rights conceptualized as public goods.     

Questioning boundedly rational frameworks in practice: The case of women entrepreneurs in Kumasi,Ghana

Management research has a foundation in bounded rationality, wherein individuals seek to make the best choice to satisfy preferences within limits posed by informational incompleteness. This work addresses how the notion of rationality that models Western, male centric business concerns is not universal. Gender has been left out of the assumptions of boundedly rational models and the use of these models often advantage men at the expense of women. The work in this paper explores the absence of gender in the assumptions of bounded rationality and how this theory is applied in emerging contexts. The paper explores the structural obstacles based on bounded rationality that are imposed on women's businesses and their decision-making and how these obstacles constrain the potential of female entrepreneurs. The paper examines these issues through 220 interviews with stakeholders in the Kumasi Central Market social system in Kumasi, Ghana. The evidence shows that when considering business registration, what is most salient to entrepreneurs is the prevailing cultural expectations for men and women, despite female economic and social prowess as entrepreneurs that predated this business registration laws by centuries. This tension between expectations for female entrepreneurial competency and the simultaneous marginalization of female entrepreneurs using frameworks based on bounded rationality is explored.     

生产商-零售商双边垄断中的所有权配置效应研究

文章在生产-流通-消费框架下,在供零双边垄断这一纵向关系中考虑了所有权配置效应问题。发现所有权配置会对市场绩效或配置效率产生重大影响。均衡分析表明,无论所处哪一个环节,国有企业的存在具有内部化垄断外部性、减轻或消除双重加价、稳定市场均衡价格和销售量的作用。这一模型可为我国在改革开放初期,在流通领域保留部分国有企业,采用渐进式改革提供了一定的理论解释。当市场处于严重的不完全竞争,或生产-流通环节的某一端处于垄断状态时,适当地保留国有企业或对有关企业进行严格监管,有利于整体社会效益的提升和保障消费者的权益。文章从纵向生产和流通关系的角度,在一定程度上证实了我国经济转型过程中部分流通经济学家们曾经提出的“国有商业具有稳定市场作用”的观点。     

Hispanic agencies and profits of distinction: an examination of the advertising industry as a field of cultural production

This project examines the advertising industry as a self-governing space that is guided by its own internal logics, but is nonetheless influenced by social dynamics at play in the larger social space. Using Bourdieu's theory of practice as a theoretical and analytical framework, this study explores the relationship between cultural capital and economic capital. Specifically, I examine the degree to which Hispanic practitioners have leveraged their knowledge of Latina(o) culture and their proficiency in Spanish as profits of distinction within the marketplace. Qualitative interviews conducted with Hispanic ad agents, general market ad agents and clients reveal that the position that Latinas(os) occupy within the social hierarchy has created both opportunities and boundaries for Hispanic agencies. This paper focuses on the practices that allow Hispanic agencies to isolate Latinas(os) from other consumers, distinguishing them institutionally and entitling them to dedicated marketing resources, but I also discuss the limitations to these practices and how such a narrow expression of the Hispanic agency's cultural capital ultimately limits their access to economic capital.     

Social entrepreneurship and intersectionality: Mitigating extreme exclusion

As social enterprises seek to share knowledge, they must navigate social hierarchy. In this study, we examine social enterprises' efforts to share knowledge in rural areas and how they seek to mitigate some of the consequences of women's marginalization during this process. We use a two-step, multi-method approach. We begin with a quantitative study that explores outcomes for women, and how caste and patriarchy influence their ability to adopt new practices introduced by social enterprises. We then draw on data from a seven-year qualitative case study to unpack our quantitative findings and explore the actual mechanisms through which intersectionality shapes the social enterprises' efforts. Our qualitative efforts also uncover how social enterprises' practices, as well as women's activities, can mitigate some of the negative consequences of marginalization, even while the social setting is largely unchanged. We seek to contribute to theory by exploring how social enterprises can potentially mitigate some of the negative consequences of exclusion due to intersectionality.     

Acquiring Economic Justice for All: An Ongoing Struggle

Ten years have passed since the National Council of Catholic Bishops presented their pastoral letter Economic Justice for All. For a democratic society to succeed, it must cultivate moral attachments. The following three questions are asked of all Americans regarding social ethics: l) How do my economic choices contribute to a sensitivity to those in need? 2) With what care, human kindness and justice do I conduct myself at work? 3) How do I strike a balance between labor and leisure that enlarges my capacity for friendships, for family life, for community? The importance of a sense of shared humanity is discussed and recommendations are made regarding emotions as strategies in the process of moral decisionmaking. The task of sensitizing both the intellectual convictions and the emotional feelings of Americans towards a more compassionate stance vis-a-vis the ‘disinherited’ in our midst is presented.     

社会资本、人力资本与内生经济增长

通过构建基于社会资本、人力资本的内生经济增长模型,研究社会资本、人力资本与经济增长之间的影响机制,并基于社会信用这种社会资本,运用面板数据对人力资本、社会资本、经济增长之间的影响机制进行实证检验,结果显示:私人生产性的教育消费支出和公共教育支出总体上促进了人力资本的积累,但前者作用大于后者;相对于政府培育社会资本的公共支出,人力资本积累更加有利于促进社会资本的积累;社会资本对中国经济增长产生了积极的影响。但是,上述三个方面的影响存在着较大的地区差异性。     

Understanding Social Welfare Capitalism,Private Property,and the Government’s Duty to Create a Sustainable Environment

No one would deny that sustainability is necessary for individual, business, and national survival. How this goal is to be accomplished is a matter of great debate. In this article I will show that the United States and other developed countries have a duty to create sustainable cities, even if that is against a notion of private property rights considered as an absolute. Through eminent domain and regulation, developed countries can fulfill their obligations to current and future generations. To do so, the governments must reject perfectly competitive free market capitalism and the absolute right to private property, and more fully adopt social welfare capitalism as their economic system. The result will be a sustainable society that balances democracy, individual rights and individual flourishing with the community’s flourishing.     

Studying food tastes among young adults using Bourdieu's theory

The purpose of this study was to study the relationship between social position and food tastes. The empirical data stem from a survey carried out in 1991 on 703 people aged 23–26 years. Bourdieu's theory of the relationship between social position and consumption was used as a theoretical framework. Bourdieu attacks the position often expressed by economists that consumers are similar in most respects except for their economic capital. He introduced the concept ‘cultural capital’ when describing different consumption practices and emphasizes the relationship between gender and food tastes. The social position variables in this study include economic and cultural capital, and gender. Participants were asked to evaluate exotic, healthy, filling, inexpensive and traditional food. Two dimensions of food orientations were observed: food as form and food as function. Economic capital was of importance concerning the costs of food and its filling functions. Groups rich in cultural capital were more interested in healthy and exotic food and less interested in filling food than those possessing less cultural capital. Women were more concerned about healthy food than men. Cultural capital had an independent effect when economic capital was constant.     

Values underlying personnel/human resource management: Implications of the bishops' economic pastoral letter

The economic pastoral letter states that employees have rights to employment, non-discriminatory treatment, adequate wages, health care, old age and disability insurance, healthy working conditions, rest and holidays, reasonable protection from arbitrary dismissal, notice of plant closings, unionization and collective bargaining. In addition, the bishops call for better cooperation between labor and management. This paper discusses how these rights can be protected by good personnel/human resource policies and procedures. Daniel J. Koys is Assistant Professor of Management at Marquette University. He is co-author of an article on employment, which has been published in Loyola University of Chicago Law Journal.     

Capability and need: A framework for understanding why states create sovereign wealth funds

Over the past half‐century, roughly one‐quarter of states in the international system have created sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). As a case of sovereign states investing public wealth mostly in private markets across borders, it is not altogether clear why SWFs have proliferated to this extent. What explains their spread in recent decades? In this paper, I build on a multidisciplinary literature that conceives of SWFs as a type of insurance against external risk and argue that middle economic powers that are highly exposed in global trade and capital markets are the states most likely to establish these institutions. Such states possess both the capability to create an SWF of a size sufficient to insure against risk and the need for the insurance function of a SWF by virtue of their relatively vulnerable position in the global economy. To evaluate my argument, I rely on a data set consisting of all states in the international system from 1950 to 2012 including the 48 SWFs created during that period. I find that middle economic powers with high degrees of trade and capital openness are the states most likely to create SWFs.     

A MICROECONOMIC MODEL OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

This paper explores the economic mechanisms behind corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a microeconomic model of the firm. The study's motivation is to shed light on the potential causes of the observed phenomena of voluntary over‐compliance among firms. We investigate how assumptions about costs and benefits affect CSR behavior through a stock of goodwill capital. In optimum, the firm must balance marginal costs and benefits of investing in CSR. We characterize the equilibrium and examine comparative statics and dynamics from a parameterized model. Finally, we link some of the model's results to the empirical literature on CSR.