The Ethics of the New Economy

David Robinson, an economics professor, is dean of the Faculty of Social
Sciences at Laurentian University.

The 22 papers in this uneven and heterogeneous volume were originally
presented at the first Laurier Conference on Business and Professional
Ethics in 1996. Readers with an interest in the field of applied
business ethics may find the book interesting.

An introduction by Leo Groarke claims that the essays provide answers
to many important questions about the “new” economy—more questions
than any single book could possibly answer, in fact. It does not help
that Groarke’s new economy has been overrun by another new economy in
which expansion dominates. Restructuring continues, but the impacts are
masked and softened by strong growth. The final chapter, by Wesley
Cragg, “provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities that
the phenomenon of restructuring has created for ethics.” It is
revealing that Cragg claims that the most fundamental opportunity is
“to establish that ethics has a central role to play”—a task that
this volume does not achieve.

The papers are easy reading. Few would warrant publication outside of
this volume. Most offer anecdotes rather than evidence, and most would
be improved by tighter editing.