Description
This book combines elements of economic and business history to study business ethics from the nineteenth century to today. It concentrates on American and British business history, delving into issues such as slavery, industrialization, firm behavior and monopolies, and Ponzi schemes. This book draws on the work of economists and historians to highlight the importance of changing technologies, religious beliefs, and cultural attitudes, showing that what is considered ethical differs across time and place.
Table of Contents
1. Labor Resists.- 2. Early Nineteenth-Century Changes.- 3. Examples of Mid-Nineteenth-Century Business Ethics in America.- 4. Rise of Industrialization.- 5. Ethics of the Firm and Strategic Behavior.- 6. John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil.- 7. Rise of the Big Retail Merchants.- 8. Early Twentieth-Century Aspects.- 9. Anxiety Over Product Safety.- 10. Get-Rich-Quick and Ponzi Schemes.- 11. Distributions of Income and Wealth.- 12. What About the Children?.- 13. Twenty-First-Century Situations.
