Is it possible to build a moral theory of market failure?

Abstract

Economics and ethics are practical sciences. The common research subject of both sciences is man. Economics is looking for an answer to the question of how to manage in business life. Ethics looks for the answer to the question of how to live. Because man is a person, his value brings consequences for all areas of human activity. This also applies to the market. The market is one of the foundations of economic life and is a great good for people and societies. The market is defined in different ways. It is worth comprehensively describing what the market is, emphasizing its personal character. In economics, attention is paid to market failure, understood mostly as the ineffectiveness of management (deviation from the model market, which is perfectly competitive). The negative impact of the market on society is also identified. Although moral aspects are increasingly taken into account in the concept of market failure, there is no general theory that attempts to capture market in moral aspects. Therefore, it is worth asking whether such a theory is possible. The construction of the moral theory of market failure can be a reference point to the analysis of market practices and institutional conditions from an ethical point of view.