The market failures approach is amongst the most influential theories of business ethics. Its interest within the field is, in large part, a result of its rejection of moralism and any sort of applied ethics approach, favouring, in contrast, a focus on the institutionally embodied goal of economic activity, which it takes to be that of Pareto efficiency. From this articulation of the goal, or purpose, of markets, a set of efficiency imperatives are derived that are taken to comprise the implicit morality of the market. However, the market failures approach has not adequately explained the basis of market actors’ moral motivation, that is, the reasons individuals have to self-consciously adhere to moral norms governing market transactions. This failure, I argue, stems from its misspecification of the purpose of the market. After explaining this failure to address the problem of moral motivation, I argue that a distinctive mode of freedom understood as a form of self-authorship is better seen as the purpose of the market, a goal that actually animates individual market participants. I then argue that this notion of freedom is intrinsically linked to a conception of responsibility and that this notion of responsibility can be more adequately conceptualized as involving a set of market virtues focused on promoting mutually beneficial transactions. Thus, the link between freedom and responsibility, stemming from an individual’s need to legitimize their freedom in a market context, provides the basis for a self-conscious sense of moral motivation. As such, this approach better captures the implicit morality of the market while also addressing the problem of moral motivation.

中文翻译：

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自由、市场和道德动机：对市场隐性道德进行更充分的解释

市场失灵方法是最具影响力的商业道德理论之一。它对该领域的兴趣在很大程度上是由于它拒绝道德主义和任何类型的应用伦理学方法，相反，它倾向于关注经济活动的制度化目标，这被认为是帕累托的目标效率。从市场目标或目的的阐述中，衍生出一系列效率要求，这些要求构成了市场的隐含道德。然而，市场失灵理论并没有充分解释市场行为者道德动机的基础，即个体必须自觉遵守市场交易的道德规范的原因。我认为，这种失败源于对市场目的的错误描述。在解释了解决道德动机问题的失败之后，我认为，被理解为一种自我创作形式的独特自由模式更好地被视为市场的目的，一个实际上激励个体市场参与者的目标。然后我认为，这种自由概念与责任概念有着内在的联系，并且这种责任概念可以更充分地概念化为涉及一系列致力于促进互利交易的市场美德。因此，自由与责任之间的联系源于个人在市场背景下使自己的自由合法化的需要，为自觉的道德动机提供了基础。因此，这种方法更好地捕捉了市场的隐含道德，同时也解决了道德动机问题。