New ethics for economics?

[Introduction] In autumn and winter 2011, more or less out of a sudden, the movement 'Occupy Wall Street' arose and almost immediately attracted an amazing amount of public attention. Young people in New York, Baltimore, California, Madrid, Frankfurt and Zurich started bristling at a loss of decency and morals in economic processes, at growing inequality, at lacking justice regarding gains and merits, and at the destabilization of the globalized economy by unleashed financial markets. Meanwhile, the excitement surrounding the 'Occupy' movement has abated largely. Still, certain renewed resentment against capitalism, in general, and against the rules assumed to guide our economic system, in particular, has risen in the public, and has echoed into the mainstream of economic science. Within the economic discipline, a hot debate on the paradigm of economic theory has unfolded. While this debate is not free of unspoken allegations and silent misunderstandings, e.g., as to what actually is the paradigm that should be debated, still it seems fair to state that the discipline is on the move, perhaps more fundamentally than ever within at least the last twenty years. (...)