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Here is the syllabus and schedule [pdf] for my Spring 2012 Business and Economic Ethics course. Core readings will be from the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, Forbes Greatest Business Stories of All Time, Atlas Shrugged, and Kaizen.
More information at the Courses page. See also my Business and Economic Ethics page.
Links to my posts over the last three years on the causes of the crisis. This is an ongoing project, and I’ll add new items to the Financial Crisis page as they are posted. Ten posts:
1. What is the US economy? Introduction. Before blaming the economic crisis on either government regulation or free enterprise, we need to know what kind of economic system the U.S. had before the crisis. A survey of the relevant factors in identifying the degree of capitalism or socialism then in place.
2. Deregulation? The Federal Register’s size: Data on one measure of government regulation — page counts of its publication of new rules each year.
3. 
When was the financial sector deregulated? Data on two measures of regulation: The size of the federal government’s annual budget for regulating the financial and banking sector, and the total number of government employees regulating that sector.
4. The Subprime Mortgage Crisis: A simplified flowchart of subprime mortgages’ contribution to the crisis. Presidents, congressmen, Fannie Mae, and lenders’ changing incentives.
5. 
Pathologies of the mixed economy (or, How we got into this frackin’ mess): A big-picture overview of the development of our mixed economy. Integrating developments in ethics, economics and political history, and public choice. A video-lecture version.
6. Money and monetary systems: An introductory contrast of private/competing money systems to our government/monopoly money system. Includes an analogy of books to money: Books are to the intellectual realm what money is to the economic realm.
7. Has the Federal Reserve been a failure? A report on a conference paper given by economic historians George Selgin and Lawrence White comparing the Fed’s original mission with its track record over the twentieth century.
8. 
What is the OWS complaint? A question for those venting their frustration at Wall Street rather than Pennsylvania Avenue.
9. Warren Buffett and the power of corporations: On the crucial distinction between political power and economic power.
10. John Allison on the financial crisis: I can’t take any credit for this excellent talk, but the former CEO of BB&T had a front-row view of the events leading up to and during the crisis. I also can’t take any credit for economist George Reisman’s depressingly clear overview explanation.
[Return to the Financial Crisis page. Return to the Business and Economics page. Return to the StephenHicks.org main page.]
In this third Socratic seminar on the Best Arguments against Free-market Capitalism, we take up three arguments:
a) the paternalist argument that human beings are incapable of living freely,
b) the collectivist argument that wealth is a social creation (at 11 minutes), and
c) the religious argument that value is not of this world (at 32 minutes).
Related: My full series of UFM lectures, seminars, and interview:
I. Entrepreneurial Ethics.
II. Philosophy and the Evolution of the Mixed Economy.
III. Socratic seminars on the Best Arguments against Free-Market Capitalism:
1. “Capitalism is dog-eat-dog.”
2. “We live in a world of scarce resources.”
3. “Humans are too depraved for freedom” (at 23 minutes).
4. “Humans are too incompetent for freedom.”
5. “Wealth is a social creation” (at 11 minutes).
6. “Value is not of this world” (at 32 minutes).
IV. Interview: Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.
Post: “Elizabeth Warren and the doulos.”
As part of an invited lecture series, I led several seminars on the topic The Best Arguments against Free-market Capitalism. The format is Socratic and the participants are professors at my host, Francisco Marroquín University.
In this second seminar, we take up the arguments that:
a) We live in a world of scarce resources, and
b) Humans are too immoral for freedom (at 23 minutes).
Forthcoming: Three more arguments against free-market capitalism.
Related:
This seminar at UFM’s site.
I. Entrepreneurial Ethics.
II. Philosophy and the Evolution of the Mixed Economy.
III. Socratic seminars on the Best Arguments against Free-Market Capitalism:
1. “Capitalism is dog-eat-dog.”
2. “We live in a world of scarce resources.”
3. “Humans are too depraved for freedom” (at 23 minutes).
4. “Humans are too incompetent for freedom.”
5. “Wealth is a social creation” (at 11 minutes).
6. “Value is not of this world” (at 32 minutes).
IV. Interview: Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.
At Francisco Marroquín University, I led a series of seminars on the Best Arguments against Free-market Capitalism. The format is Socratic, with lively back-and-forth between me and an impressive group of UFM professors.
In first session, we take up the argument that Free-market capitalism is dog-eat-dog. The video’s editor, Luis Barrueto, provides a useful thematic table of contents for the discussion on the right side of the video frame.
Forthcoming: Five more arguments against free-market capitalism.
Related:
This seminar at UFM’s site.
My full series of UFM lectures, seminars, and interview:
I. Entrepreneurial Ethics.
II. Philosophy and the Evolution of the Mixed Economy.
III. Socratic seminars on the Best Arguments against Free-Market Capitalism:
1. “Capitalism is dog-eat-dog.”
2. “We live in a world of scarce resources.”
3. “Humans are too depraved for freedom” (at 23 minutes).
4. “Humans are too incompetent for freedom.”
5. “Wealth is a social creation” (at 11 minutes).
6. “Value is not of this world” (at 32 minutes).
IV. Interview: Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.
I am neither Catholic nor Protestant, so I do not have a dog in that fight but rather a cultural history question about the financially bankrupt PIGS or PIIGS countries in Europe.
With the exception of Ireland, all are in southern Europe. Including Ireland, all of them are traditionally Catholic [except Greece, which is mostly Eastern Orthodox, as William W. points out].
Some questions:
1. Is the Protestant-work-ethic thesis — which is thought to encourage diligent labor, saving, and living more frugally — relevant here?
2. Is there something contrasting in Catholicism’s cultural heritage that makes it politically more spendthrift?
3. Are there predominantly Protestant nations in as much economic difficulty?
4. What about the exceptions — predominantly Catholic countries not in the PIGS category: France, Austria, Poland, etc.?
5. If we were to place all European nations along a spectrum from financially strong to weak, what would the distribution of traditionally Catholic and Protestant nations look like?
6. Is there a carryover to economic development in the Americas–e.g., that North America was mostly settled by immigrants from northern-Protestant-European cultures and South America was settled mostly by immigrants from southern-Catholic-European cultures?
Related:
Empires of conquest and empires of commerce.
Successful nations and the British empire.
[Return to the StephenHicks.org main page.]
Here is a simplified flowchart, developed for my business ethics courses, 
reflecting my understanding of subprime mortgages’ contribution to the crisis.
Let me emphasize that this is only about the subprime contribution of the overall crisis. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac enabled much spillover into non-subprime mortgage sectors, government-set capital requirements and other regulations enabled the AAA ratings of mortgage-based securities that encouraged speculators, and there were plenty of imprudent and unscrupulous characters in the private sector too.
Click on the image for a larger size or here for a PDF version.
Suggestions for improvement welcome. Thanks to Christopher Vaughan for the flowchart’s visual design. [Return to the StephenHicks.org main page.]
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