Constitutional Economics and Ethics — On the Relation Between Self-Interest and Morality

Abstract

Fundamental to the economic approach to human behavior is the notion that people are motivated by self-interest in the sense that, if faced with a choice among alternative courses of action, they do what, in their view, best serves their own interests. Ethics, on the other hand, is based on the idea that there exist rules of moral conduct, and that people are not permitted simply to pursue their own interests, but are obliged to conform to these rules.