Economics and Ethics 1

1 The Theory of the Household.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Classification of Decisions and of Principles to Rate Them.- 1.3 Private Decisions of Moral Importance.- 1.4 Moral Standards and the Determination of Moral Evaluations of a Decision.- 1.5 A Digression: Explanation of the Transfer Probabilities.- 1.6 The Length of the Economic Horizon.- 1.7 The Relative Frequencies of Personal Decisions.- 1.8 Uncertainty on the Consequences of Decisions.- 1.9 Evaluations in Case of Interdependent Decisions.- 1.10 The General Theory of Household Behavior.- 1.11 Some Further Remarks on Household Theory.- 1.12 Entrepreneurship, Confidence and Trustworthiness.- 1.13 Income and Expenditure of a Household. Some Definitional Relations.- Annex to Section 1.13: Some Details on Income and Expenditure of a Household.- 1.14 Normal Economic Decisions of Private Households and the Budget Constraint.- Annex to Section 1.14: Some Details on Normal Economic Decisions of Private Households and on the Budget Constraint.- 1.15 Consumption and Saving of Private Households.- 1.16 Morality and Criminality in a Society and Their Effect on the Economy.- 1.17 Private Valuations of Collective Issues.- 1.18 Transition to the Next Period: Change of Issues.- 1.19 Collective Decisions.- 1.20 Determination of the Leading Group and of the Influence of Each Person within the Group.- 1.21 Transition to the Next Period: Change of Government.- 1.22 Digression 1: The Interaction of the Spiritual Domain and Economics.- 1.23 Digression 2: The Connection to Sociology and Political Science.- 1.24 The Direct Influence of Ethics on Normal Economic Decisions. A Short Review and Preview.- 1.25 The Conditional Sales or Purchases of Capital Stock and Securities.- 1.26 A Digression: Fixing of the Rates by the Brokers.- 1.27 The Assignment of Households to Decision Situations.- 1.28 The Household Demand as a Function of the Situation of the Economy and of the Characteristics of the Household.- 1.29 A Final Remark: Convergence of Evaluations.- 1.30 Epilogue: The Importance of Humanities and Their Relation to the Natural Sciences.- References.- 2 The Theory of the Firm.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 The Production Department: Production, Capital Equipment, and Replacement.- 2.3 The Production Department: Secondary Inputs.- 2.4 The Production Department: Labor Input.- 2.5 The Handbook of Production.- 2.6 The Inventory Department.- 2.7 The Administration Department: The Organization of a Firm.- 2.8 Some Remarks on Other Characteristics of the Initial Situation of a Firm.- 2.9 The Main Decisions of a Firm Concerning the Real Side.- 2.10 The Initial Situation of a Firm: The Monetary Side.- 2.11 The Possible Decisions of a Firm Concerning the Monetary Sector.- 2.12 Transition of a Firm from One Decision Point to the Next: The Choice Criteria.- 2.13 A Short Look into the Literature.- References.- 3 The Theory of the Banking System.- 3.1 Introductory Remarks.- 3.2 Some Definitions and Relations. A Note.- 3.3 The Balance Sheet of a Commercial Bank.- 3.4 The Profit and Loss Account of a Commercial Bank.- 3.5 The Organization of a Commercial Bank.- 3.6 The Balance Sheet of the Central Bank.- 3.7 The Decision Variables and the Principles of Decision of the Central Bank.- 3.8 The Decision Variables and the Principles of Decision of a Commercial Bank.- 3.9 The Secondary Inputs of a Commercial Bank.- 3.10 A Digression: Dubious Effectiveness of the Discount Policy of the Central Bank.- 3.11 On the Near-Constancy of Some Coefficients in the Monetary Sector of the Economy.- 3.12 A Digression: Some Consequences of the Near-Constancy of Some Coefficients in the Monetary Sector of the Economy; a Simplified Model.- 3.13 A Final Remark.- References.- 4 The Educational System, Development and Research.- 4.1 Some Basic Concepts.- 4.2 Natural Endowments and the School System.- 4.3 Learning by Doing.- 4.4 Development, Research and Technical Progress.- 4.5 Some Remarks on Other Explanations of Technical Progress.- References.- 5 The Theory of the Government.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Digression 1: An Overview on the Development of Technology and Constitutions in the Last Millennium.- 5.3 Digression 2: An Overview on the Relations of the Status of Agriculture and Handicraft and the Constitutions of Feudalism and Absolutism.- 5.4 Digression 3: An Overview on the Relations of the Status of Industrialism and on the Constitutions of Absolutism and Democracy.- 5.5 The Theory of the Government: Some Definitions and Assumptions.- 5.6 Transition to the Next Period: Decisions of the Government Concerning the Real Side.- 5.7 The Government Budget.- 5.8 Transition to the Next Period: Decisions of the Government Concerning the Monetary Side.- 5.9 Determination of the “Leading Group”: Election of the Members of the Government.- 5.10 Some Notes on the Approach Suggested Here in Comparison to Other Approaches.- References.- 6 The Determination of the Wage Rates.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Some Basic Definitions and Assumptions.- 6.3 The Determination of the Time Shape of the Trade Unions’ Demands for a Wage Increase.- 6.4 Determination of the Time Shape of the Employers Concessions for the Wage Levels.- 6.5 Wage Determination: The Wage Rates Offered by the Employers and Demanded by the Trade Unions Are Equal.- 6.6 Criticism of Wage Determination by Agreement of Trade Unions and Employer Associations. A Digression.- 6.7 A Short Look into the Literature.- References.- 7 The Theory of the Price of Securities and of the Interest Rates.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 The Price of Securities. A Theory of the Exchange.- 7.3 The Theory of the Determination of the Interest Rates.- 7.4 The Financial Structure of a Commercial Bank.- 7.5 A Short Look into the Literature.- References.- A Final Remark.