STREET DOGS: Moral best practice
‘It’s wrong to deceive people — and it’s also bad business. Ben Franklin’
It’s discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit. — Noel Coward. And from Douglas Tengdin at Money Basics: Ben Franklin once said, "I’m not moral because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s the best policy." A market economy can only be sustained by certain standards, like trust, honesty, and fairness. It’s wrong to deceive people — and it’s also bad business. Friedrich Hayek, a champion of free markets, called this set of shared standards "tradition". Tradition, he says, encodes the accumulated wisdom of earlier generations in a way that no single generation, however sophisticated, could discover for itself. By learning these traditions and passing them on to our children, we avoid costly mistakes. Ironically, societies that have strong moral traditions form the best environment for commercial and technological innovation. Property rights, the rule of law, and sound money are essential to sustain a market economy. But we’re individual...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.