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What Price the Moral High Ground? Robert H. Frank

What Price the Moral High Ground? By Robert H. Frank

What Price the Moral High Ground? by Robert H. Frank


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Summary

Financial disasters - and stories of the greedy bankers who precipitated them - seem to underscore the idea that self-interest will always trump concerns for the greater good. But is it valid? This title challenges the notion that doing well is accomplished only at the expense of doing good.

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What Price the Moral High Ground? Summary

What Price the Moral High Ground?: How to Succeed without Selling Your Soul by Robert H. Frank

Financial disasters--and stories of the greedy bankers who precipitated them--seem to underscore the idea that self-interest will always trump concerns for the greater good. Indeed, this idea is supported by the prevailing theories in both economics and evolutionary biology. But is it valid? In What Price the Moral High Ground?, economist and social critic Robert Frank challenges the notion that doing well is accomplished only at the expense of doing good. Frank explores exciting new work in economics, psychology, and biology to argue that honest individuals often succeed, even in highly competitive environments, because their commitment to principle makes them more attractive as trading partners. Drawing on research he has conducted and published over the past decade, Frank challenges the familiar homo economicus stereotype by describing how people create bonds that sustain cooperation in one-shot prisoner's dilemmas. He goes on to describe how people often choose modestly paid positions in the public and nonprofit sectors over comparable, higher-paying jobs in the for-profit sector; how studying economics appears to inhibit cooperation; how social norms often deter opportunistic behavior; how a given charitable organization manages to appeal to donors with seemingly incompatible motives; how concerns about status and fairness affect salaries in organizations; and how socially responsible firms often prosper despite the higher costs associated with their business practices. Frank's arguments have important implications for the conduct of leaders in private as well as public life. Tossing aside the model of the self-interested homo economicus, Frank provides a tool for understanding how to better structure organizations, public policies, and even our own lives.

What Price the Moral High Ground? Reviews

This book is short, accessible and thought-provoking... Frank draws heavily from game theory and evolutionary biology to explain why do-gooders work for less and firms that don't squeeze suppliers and cheat customers profit over the long run.--Washington Post Moral behavior is not irrational ... Frank insists. The challenge is to define self-interest in a manner capacious enough to accommodate the real motives for people's choices. Frank does this with a mixture of Darwinian science, psychology, and flexible common sense.--Laura Secor, Boston Globe What Price the Moral High Ground? Is wide-ranging and well-written.--John J. DiIulio, Jr., The Weekly Standard [Frank's] vision is one that allows people to strive to meet their chosen goals and promotes the common good in an ordered cosmos--which is exactly where many of us want to live.--Merrill Matthews, Business Economics

About Robert H. Frank

Robert H. Frank is the Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management and professor of economics at Cornell University, as well as an economics columnist for the New York Times. His books include The Winner-Take-All Society (with Philip Cook), What Price the Moral High Ground?, The Economic Naturalist, and Principles of Economics (with Ben Bernanke).

Table of Contents

Introduction: Infectious Good vii Part I. DOING WELL 1. Forging Commitments That Sustain Cooperation 3 2. Can Cooperators Find One Another? 28 3. Adaptive Rationality and the Moral Emotions 45 4. Can Socially Responsible Firms Survive in Competitive Environments? 58 Part II. DOING GOOD 5. What Price the Moral High Ground? 71 6. Local Status, Fairness, and Wage Compression Revisited 92 7. Motivation, Cognition, and Charitable Giving 109 Part III. FORGING BETTER OUTCOMES 8. Social Norms as Positional Arms-Control Agreements 133 9. Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation? 155 Appendix: Ethics Questionnaire 179 Epilogue: The Importance of Sanctions 183 References 191 Index 199

Additional information

CIN0691146942VG
9780691146942
0691146942
What Price the Moral High Ground?: How to Succeed without Selling Your Soul by Robert H. Frank
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Princeton University Press
20100404
224
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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