"Two impressive features of this book are its clarity of purpose and the
breadth of disciplinary resources to which it appeals."
---Geoffrey Brennan, Professor of Economics, Australian National
University
"Facing massive evidence that people do not act generally as
self-regarding payoff maximizers, economists have become increasingly
interested in issues of cooperation, altruism, identity, and morality.
Lanse Minkler's contribution is particularly important because of his
powerful argument that the evidence of cooperation cannot be explained
adequately by a more complicated preference function. A disposition for
honesty is not simply a matter of preference---it is an issue of
personal integrity, identity, and commitment. This has major
implications. In particular we have to reconstruct the theory of the
firm from first principles. No economist committed to the pursuit of
truth should ignore this volume."
---Geoffrey Hodgson, Research Professor in Business Studies, University
of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, and Editor in Chief of the Journal of
Institutional Economics
"This is an interesting account of the role of
integrity---preference-integrity and commitment-integrity---on economic
behavior. While drawing knowledge from traditional subfields of
economics, it also includes insights gleaned from psychology and
philosophy, showing their effects in varied areas such as political
behavior, the employment relation, religion, and human rights. In this
exciting volume Lanse Minkler does an excellent job of incorporating
various newer concepts of fairness and integrity into economic
analysis."
---Ernst Fehr, Professor and Head of the Chair of Microeconomics and
Experimental Economic Research and Director of the Institute for
Empirical Research in Economics, University of Zurich
Social scientists who treat humans as rational beings driven exclusively
by self-interest ignore a key factor shaping human behavior: the
influence of moral principles. Starting with the elementary principle
"lying is wrong," economic theorist Lanse Minkler examines the ways in
which a sense of morality guides real-life decision making.
Whether one feels committed to specific or general moral principles,
Minkler explains, integrity demands consistently acting on that
commitment. Because truthfulness is the most basic moral principle,
integrity means honesty. And honesty extends beyond truth-telling. It
requires good faith when entering an agreement and then standing by
one's word. From this premise, Minkler explores the implications of
integrity for contracts between buyers and sellers and understandings
between employers and employees. He also finds a role for integrity in
an individual's religious vows, an elected official's accountability to
constituents, and a community's obligation to human rights.
Integrity and Agreement reintroduces morality as a factor for
economists, sociologists, psychologists, and political scientists to
consider in their efforts to comprehend human behavior.
Lanse Minkler is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of
Connecticut.
