The Separation of Technology and Ethics in Business Ethics

The purpose of this paper is to draw out and make explicit the assumptions made in the treatment of technology within business ethics. Drawing on the work of Freeman (1994, 2000) on the assumed separation between business and ethics, we propose a similar separation exists in the current analysis of technology and ethics. After first identifying and describing the separation thesis assumed in the analysis of technology, we will explore how this assumption manifests itself in the current literature. A different stream of analysis, that of science and technology studies (STS), provides a starting point in understanding the interconnectedness of technology and society. As we will demonstrate, business ethicists are uniquely positioned to analyze the relationship between business, technology, and society. The implications of a more complex and rich definition of ‘technology’ ripple through the analysis of business ethics. Finally, we propose a pragmatic approach to understanding technology and explore the implications of such an approach to technology. This new approach captures the broader understanding of technology advocated by those in STS and allows business ethicists to analyze a broader array of dilemmas and decisions.     

A Development‐friendly Prioritisation of Doha Round Proposals

Agriculture looms large on the WTO's agenda. It was the first substantive item listed in the work programme of the Ministerial Declaration launching the Doha Round, and it was arguably at the centre of the failure at Cancun. Developing countries made it clear both before and during the Cancun meeting that progress on agriculture was their primary objective. Negotiations in other areas have received less attention and progressed more slowly. This paper considers that prioritisation, and suggests that the interests of developing countries in the current round of trade negotiations are much broader than is suggested by the narrow range of agricultural issues that have dominated negotiations. A true development round would require a significant reprioritisation of many areas of the WTO's current agenda.     

Profit Without Copyright

An elite consensus appears to have formed around the strengthening of IPR regimes. At the same time, many people, particularly in developing countries, are questioning the idea of paying for what they intuitively sense might possibly be free. In view of the potential for global dissensus on this issue, businesses that produce and distribute explicit knowledge, or digital sequences, would be quite prudent to start making contingency plans for a new form of global capitalism: one characterised by much weaker IPR regimes. Competitive business strategies based upon rival-complementarity (i.e. physical goods and human services that complement digital products) indicate the feasibility of a global economy-of-things, resting upon a freely accessible ecology of knowledge. This might be built in the future, in much the same way that an industrial economy was built, historically, upon a natural ecology of available land and biosystems. Such an arrangement conforms to several rather fundamental political intuitions.     

DETERMINANTS OF TRADE: THE CASE OF MEXICO

This article explains the extent of intra-industry trade (IIT) in Mexico's foreign trade, and tests empirically various country-specific hypotheses concerning the determinants of intra-industry trade between Mexico and its major trading partners. The results of the econometric analysis corroborate the predictions of the theoretical models. The results indicate that the extent of Mexican intra-industry trade is positively correlated with the average income levels, average country size, trade intensity, trade orientation, the existence of a common border, the existence of a common language, and the participation in regional integration schemes, while it is negatively correlated with income inequality, inequality in country size, distance, and trade imbalance.     

Long-term mortality following injury in working-age adults: a systematic review

Priorities for prevention activities and planning for services depend on comprehensive knowledge of the distribution of the injury-related burden in the community. The aim of this systematic review was to quantify the effect of being injured, compared with not being injured, on long-term mortality in working age adults. Cohort studies were selected that were population-based, measured mortality post-discharge from inpatient treatment, included a non-injured comparison group and related to working-age adults. Data synthesis was in tabular and text form with a meta-analysis not being possible because of the heterogeneity between studies. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. All studies found an overall positive association between injury and increased mortality. While the greatest excess mortality was evident during the initial period post-injury, increased mortality was shown in some studies to persist for up to 40 years after injury. Due to the limited number of injury types studied and heterogeneity between studies, there is insufficient published evidence on which to calculate population estimates of long-term mortality, where injury is a component cause. The review does suggest there is considerable excess mortality following injury that is not accounted for in current methods of quantifying injury burden, and is not used to assess quality and effectiveness of trauma care.     

A development strategy for the 1990s

The United Nations Committee for Development Planning (CDP) in its annual report has attempted to formulate a development strategy for the 1990s. We have asked Udo E. Simonis, a member of the CDP, to summarize the main findings and recommendations of that report. The full report will be issued asOfficial Records of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.