Social Sciences in China Review

No.1, 2020

The Development of Research on Western Economic Ethics (Abstract)

Qiao Hongwu

Research on Western Economic Ethics was the only work to win the 18th Sun Yefang Economic Science Award for writing, reflecting full recognition of the research paradigm of the organic integration of target responsibility technical analysis of economic principles and philosophical analysis in the field of economics in China. Economics and philosophical ethics originally came from the same source. It was after the “marginal revolution” that mainstream Western economics took up positivist research methods and launched the “de-ethicalization” economic model. With the increasing seriousness of the ethical impoverishment of mainstream neoclassical economics in the 20th century, a wave of theories aimed at “reconstructing the ethical dimension of economics” has arisen within and outside Western economics. This is another important reason the researcher of this award-winning book is taking the lead in carrying out Chinese research on this topic. Western economic ethics have different value orientations in different civilizations at different times. They are not concerned with a sole “optimum,” but have important implications for countries making the transition to a market economy.