Three Ethical Dimensions of the Financial Crisis

Abstract

It has often been said that the financial crisis which has been hitting the world economy since mid-2007 is an ethical crisis. By studying the behaviors of the agents who made the decisions that led to the crisis, we do find evidences of many unethical mistakes. But bad conducts were also present before the crisis and in countries not affected by it: that the crisis has an ethical dimension does not mean that this is its only cause. In this paper we argue that this is a crisis of leadership or governance of a wide range of institutions, which, in turn, reflects the failure of an economic and social model supported by some anthropological and ethical assumptions, and these are what failed.