Introduction -- Adam Smith and the Free Market -- The Concepts of Private, Public and Merit Goods -- Business Ethics and Eleven Categories of Merit Goods -- The Ethical and Socio-political Dimensions of the Financial Crisis of 2007-08 and the Subsequent Recession -- Conclusion

Table of Contents Acknowledgments VII Introduction 1 Overview ...

The purpose of this paper is to defend the concept of "merit good" and to expand its application. This is achieved by using a Kantian philosophical argument applied to the writings of foundational economists such as Adam Smith and Henry Simons (and Walter Eucken in the German literature). As a...