Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses the social and political foundations of economics by asking the question whether there is connection between ethics and economics. It deals with central issues of the philosophical foundations of the relation between ethics and economics, but they also deal with concrete and current aspects of international business and human rights. The book examines that in 'Ethical Economy and Business Ethics: On the Relationships between Ethics and Economics' Peter Koslowski addresses the presupposition that the synthesis of ethics and economic criteria is the central task in judging individual and collective human action. Niels Kærgård, Professor of Economics, Copenhagen University, discusses in the book 'Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Optimality and the Interests of the Poor' how the market economy is based on the actions of selfish agents.