Ethics and Incentives

A Political Approach

Bibliographic Data

ID3248064
AuthorsRuth W Grant (Duke University, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume100
Issue1
Pages29-39
Publication date2006-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003055406061983
OpenAlexW2141716577
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited29

Understood within an economic framework as a form of trade, incentives appear inherently ethical; understood as a form of power, incentives seem ethically suspect. Incentives, along with coercion and persuasion, are among the ways in which some people get others to do what they want them to do. This paper analyzes incentives as a form of power in order to develop criteria for distinguishing legitimate from illegitimate uses of them. Whereas an economic approach focuses on voluntariness as the sole criterion in judging incentives, this political approach yields three standards: purpose, voluntariness, and effect on the character of the parties involved. The paper explores issues that arise in applying these standards. Framing the problem of incentives as a problem of power reveals the ethical issues with greater depth and complexity than placing incentives in an economic frame of reference

Coercion (linguistics · Economics · Framing (construction · Incentive · Law and economics · Microeconomics · Order (exchange · Persuasion · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Public economics · Suspect · Voluntariness · Law · Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Psychology · Social Psychology

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