ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the four key economic theories, ranging from the broad and more connected to the real world to the specific and more abstract: social economics, institutional economics, Post Keynesian economics and neoclassical economics. Social economics is influenced by virtue ethics, deriving from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. This is a person-based ethics depending on social embeddedness of behaviour. The Gross National Happiness shows that economics is more than markets, money, and mathematics. This is illustrated by the contributions of the key economists in the history of economic thought. Pluralism refers to the conviction that a plurality of theoretical and methodological viewpoints is valuable and contributes to the advancement of science. The ethical foundation behind some institutions is based on deontological ethics. This is an ethics concerned with rights, duties, and human dignity. The European Commission has a competition policy, a policy which prohibits mergers or acquisitions that would lead to a dominant market share by a single firm.
