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The Morality of Markets

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  • Mathias Dewatripont
  • Jean Tirole

Abstract

Scholars and civil society have argued that competition erodes supplier morality. This paper establishes a robust irrelevance result, whereby intense market competition does not crowd out consequentialist ethics; it thereby issues a strong warning against the wholesale moral condemnation of markets and procompetitive institutions. Intense competition, while not altering the behavior of profitable suppliers, may, however, reduce the standards of highly ethical suppliers or not-for-profits, raising the potential need to protect the latter in the marketplace.

Suggested Citation

  • Mathias Dewatripont & Jean Tirole, 2024. "The Morality of Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(8), pages 2655-2694.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/729445
    DOI: 10.1086/729445
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    Cited by:

    1. Dufwenberg, Martin & Johansson-Stenman, Olof & Kirchler, Michael & Lindner, Florian & Schwaiger, Rene, 2022. "Mean markets or kind commerce?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
      • Martin Dufwenberg & Olof Johansson Stenman & Michael Kirchler & Florian Lindner & Rene Schwaiger, 2021. "Mean Markets or Kind Commerce?," Working Papers 2021-07, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    2. Ponthière, Grégory & Stevens, Nicolas, 2025. "The morality of markets. A critique," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 14-19.
    3. Sébastien Pouget & Daniel Brodback & Nadja Guenster & Ruichen Wang, 2025. "Investor Valuation for Socially Responsible Assets: A Willingness to Pay Experiment," Post-Print hal-05327492, HAL.
    4. Federico M. Accursi & Raúl Bajo-Buenestado & Raul Bajo-Buenestado, 2024. "Do Cooperatives Exercise Market Power? Evidence from Pass-Through to Retail Prices," CESifo Working Paper Series 11473, CESifo.
    5. Pouget, Sébastien & Brodback, Daniel & Guenster, Nadja & Wang, Ruichen, 2025. "Investor Valuation for Socially Responsible Assets: A Willingness to Pay Experiment," TSE Working Papers 2025-1683, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    6. Pol Campos-Mercade & Claes Ek & Magnus Soederberg & Florian H. Schneider, 2025. "Social Preferences and Environmental Externalities," CEBI working paper series 25-06, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).
    7. Bond, Philip & Levit, Doron, 2025. "ESG: A panacea for market power?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    8. Byambadalai, Undral & Ma, Ching-to Albert & Wiesen, Daniel, 2023. "Changing preferences: An experiment and estimation of market-incentive effects on altruism," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    9. Wang, Yongying, 2024. "R&D capitalization vs. R&D expensing: A theoretical model with policy implications," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).

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