Hang Thai
International Entrepreneurship
Dr. Jeff Cornwall
Assignment 2
September 25th,2016
Does the free market corrode moral character? – It All Depends.
Before we talk about “Does the free market corrode moral character?”, we should answer
the questions “What is moral character?,” “What is free market?,” and going to find out
“How are they related together?” and if that free market will destroy moral character.
Ferrell defines in “Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases” that “moral
character” is an evaluation of a particular individual’s stable moral qualities. The concept
of character can imply a variety of attributes including the existence or lack of virtues such
as empathy, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, or of good behaviors or habits.
Lawrence Pervin also states moral character as “a disposition to express behavior in
consistent patterns of functions across a range of situations”. Meanwhile, Free market in
Adam Smith definition, the Father of Economics, is that by giving everyone freedom to
produce and exchange goods as they pleased (free trade) and opening the markets up to
domestic and foreign competition, people’s natural self-interest would promote greater
prosperity than with stringent government regulations. So, whether or not “free market”
will corrode the moral character while it is doing it functions to bring more benefits for
whoever involve in.
John C. Bogle is Founder of the Vanguard Group, Inc., and President of the Bogle
