Hayek’s market-morals argument drew on explicitly ethical justifications of capitalism.

Evidence

Hayek drew partly on the philosopher H. B. Acton’s defence of ‘the morals of markets’, in his 1971 book commissioned for the Institute for Economic Affairs by the Mont Pèlerin Society member Arthur Seldon. H. B. Acton, The Morals of Markets: An Ethical Exploration (London: Longman/IEA, 1971). He also relied on the work of the economic historian H.M. Robertson, whose 1933 study of the rise of economic individualism challenged Max Weber’s account of the Calvinist influence on the ‘spirit of capitalism’ and argued that it was the development of industry and commerce that had brought about a shift in morals, not vice versa. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 491

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the provenance of the phrase ‘the morals of markets’ — the very title of this book — tracing it to Acton’s 1971 IEA-commissioned work.
• XREF: Robertson’s reversal of Weber’s causation (commerce shapes morals, not vice versa) directly relevant to the reader’s debate on market ethics and human rights. — connects to: Hayek held that free markets require a moral culture of personal responsibility to survive — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 23; Hayek held that only one moral system, the market’s, yields an open society. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 25; Hayek valued religion pragmatically for securing submission to market order — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 356 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Scientific and ethical appraisal of capitalism are compatible, contrary to Jameson #expands (0.75) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 492
• Hayek personally opposed strong intellectual property despite his followers endorsing it #expands (0.72) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2191