The Academic Coverage of Business Ethics:

Does Economics Measure Up?

Bj DAVID J. HOAAS and DON C. WILCOX*

Economics and business classes are closely related and, in most

colleges and universities, included in the business core curriculum. Courses
in ethics and the social responsibility of business, if not required, are increasingly
recommended to business students. The authors argue that: (1) a discussion of
ethical issues is lacking in economics core courses while core courses in management and marketing contain extensive coverage of the topic and (2) this
topic should be integrated into the core courses of all business-related disciplines. In economics texts, problems of efficiency are seen as manageable and
uncontroversial while problems of ethics and equity are seen as controversial
and theoretically intractable. Using survey data from the top selling texts in the
principles of economics, intermediate microeconomics, the principles of marketing, and the principles of management, the authors show the disparity in
the presentation of ethical issues between the disciplines of business and
economics.
ABSTRACT.

I
Introduction
in the 1990s that schools and colleges of business need
to address questions related to business ethics and the social responsibility of
business. An emphasis on the general subject matter of ethics has steadily increased since the mid 1970s when the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools
of Business (AACSB) urged the incorporation of the topic into the course curricula (Bishop, 1992, 291).'
The multiplicity of legal cases against managers and business organizations,
that are headlined in the popular press with some degree of frequency, certainly
indicates that the need exists for business ethics to be given attention in the
classroom. Accounts of check-kiting schemes, defense contract fraud, collusive
bidding procedures, cover-ups of health risks, unfair takeover tactics, insider
THERE IS A CONSENSUS

(David J. Hoaas, PhD., is associate professor of economics, and Don C. Wilcox, D B A , is

professor of business administration at Frost School of Business, Centenary College, Shreveport,
LA 71134.] They wish to thank Letitia D. Hoaas and two anonymous referees for comments on
an earlier version of this paper.
American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 54, No. 3 Ouly, 1995).
1995 American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc.

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American fournal of Economics and Sociology

trading, illegal kickbacks, conflicts of interest, and product adulteration appear

as weekly items in the news.
Consequently, business ethics has now become a prime academic growth
area, spawning new textbooks, research, and scholarly articles. Interest among
professionals is most vividly demonstrated by the March, 1987 endowment of
$20 million by the former investment banker and Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, John S. R. Shad, for a "Business Leadership and Ethics" program at the Harvard Business School (Schoenfeldt, McDonald, and Youngblood,
1991,237-38). Over 500 business ethics courses are currently taught on American
campuses. Ninety percent of the nation's business schools now provide instruction in the area of ethics. There are more than 25 textbooks in the field and
three academic journals devoted to the topic. At least 16 business ethics research
centers are now in operation, and endowed chairs in business ethics have been
established at Georgetown, Virginia, Minnesota, and a number of other prominent business schools (Stark, 1993, 38). As Stieber and Primeaux have pointed
out ". . . the insider-trading scandals on Wall Street . . . have done more to
advance the concept of managerial ethics as a valid field of study than all of the
curriculum committees at all of our major universities" (Stieber and Primeaux,
1991, 338). Merritt has concluded that business schools ". . . need to make
their graduates more sensitive to issues of ethics and the importance of setting
the proper tone in organizations" (Merritt, 1991, 631).
The literature on business ethics continues to debate the issue about what
approach to follow when teaching the subject. Should it be taught as a separate
business ethics course, or via an integrative approach by which ethical issues
are incorporated into all the courses within the business core? In this paper the
authors take the position that the integrative approach will best serve business
students because of the interrelationships of the business disciplines and because
ofthe nature ofthe issues in the business world that graduates will face.
Since the educational task is to ensure an examination of the diversity of
ethical issues and to insure analysis of issues across disciplines, the integrative
approach is seen as the most effective means of acquainting students with the
diverse ethical issues they may confront in business. As noted by Bishop, "Students should be faced with ethical issues through multiple courses and be exposed to diverse ethical dilemmas," (Bishop, 1992, 294). In the business world,
ethical issues typically are many faceted, cross disciplinary lines, and seldom
arise in isolation (Smith, 1988, 13).
With respect to the economics literature, the study of the relationship between
economics and ethics is not new. Buchanan (1985), Hamlin (1986), and Sen
(1987) all provide book length treatments of this study. More recently, Hausman

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291

and McPherson (1993) have surveyed the topic from the economist's and the
moral philosopher's perspectives.
However, many scholars still maintain that economics and ethics have nothing
to do with one another. They argue that the study of economics is a purely
technical pursuit, which can provide policy-makers with knowledge concerning
the consequences of proposed policies. Then it is left to the policy-maker to
make the ethical or moral choice between competing policies. The job of the
policy-maker is to choose the most appropriate means toward a given end.
"Ethics determines the ends, and economics determines the means. They are
both crucial to policy, but they have nothing much to do with one another,"
(Hausman and McPherson, 1993, 672). The individuals supporting this view
apparently adhere to the premise of Friedman's 1970 New York Times Magazine
article "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits."
There are at least four reasons why economists should be interested in moral
and ethical issues. First, since economists are interested in outcomes, they must
be interested in the motivation of the economic agents within their models.
The morality of the economic agents can influence their aims, their actions, and
therefore, economic outcomes. Second, standard welfare economics is based
on moral presuppositions. The acceptance of the Pareto Principle and a focusing
on efficient outcomes is a moral judgment. Third, in policy making, fairness,
opportunity, and freedom are all important and relevant concepts. If economists
are to be useful to policy-makers, they must be able to incorporate these somewhat noneconomic ideas into their models. Finally, positive and normative economics cannot always be readily separated. People can only understand the
positive theorizing behind an economic issue if they understand the normative
importance of why the particular economic problem arose in the first place
(Hausman and McPherson, 1993, 673-78).

Nature of the Study

is two-fold. Thefirstis to provide a survey of the most

widely used introductory economics textbooks and intermediate microeconomics textbooks and consider to what extent they discuss ethical and moral
issues. The second, is to it compare coverage of ethical and moral issues in
principles of marketing and in principles of management textbooks.
This second set of texts was chosen, as a comparative group, because of the
close similarities between the academic pursuits of economics majors and business majors. Many economics departments are housed within business schools
and most economics and business majors eventually take courses together. The
THE INTENT OF THIS PAPER

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American Journal of Economics and Sociology

business major, besides taking the two economics classes mentioned above,^
also will be required to take marketing and management courses as part of a
business core curriculum. The research for this paper was predicated on the
belief that the disciplines of management and marketing have taken the lead
in the coverage of business ethics, but that business ethics is an issue missing
in the teaching of economics, especially in the business core. Bishop argues
that this coverage in multiple classes is not redundant. Even if a school has a
single business ethics course, follow-up in other classes is necessary. "Such
follow-up facilitates reinforcement of the ethics concepts and provides [an] opportunity to cover ethical issues unique to various majors or to frame ethical
issues in ways that are relevant to those distinct majors" (Bishops, 1992, 296).
The "positive" approach to the teaching of economics implies that ethics is
not an issue to society but, rather, if the correct economic decisions are made,
society will benefit. Whether one accepts the validity of the above or not, the
approach of leaving ethics out of the teaching of economics does possess an
inherent danger through the "sin of omission."
This study is similar in nature to the work of Hawley (1991) and Pamental
(1988). Hawley found that of twenty-two major Corporate Einance texts surveyed,
every text presented shareholder wealth maximization as the goal of the corporate
financial manager. He found it not surprising that issues of business ethics and
the social responsibility of business were totally ignored in most Corporate
Einance texts (Hawley, 1991, 711). None of the texts offered the instructor
assistance in integrating these issues into class discussion by providing realworld examples or discussion questions concerning business ethics and social
responsibility topics (Hawley, 1991, 714). Hawley (1991, 714) concludes ". . .
that society has failed to establish rules that reward socially responsible actions
on a level commensurate with the rewards for economic efficiency."
There are certain limitations to the present study that are imposed by the task
of identification of top selling textbooks. Textbook publishers deem their sales
figures somewhat proprietary and therefore would not release exact numbers.
In addition, problems arise in confirming textbooks sales because of various
versions and editions of an individual text. Introductory economic texts are sold
as stand-alone texts, and as microeconomic and macroeconomic splits. Adequate
sales figures do not exist regarding the resale of used textbooks which represent
an increasingly large part of the market. Eor these reasons, a definitive list of
top ten selling textbooks by category does not exist. The lists presented, however,
are considered to be representative of the market. Several textbook representatives, who desired not to be named and who desired not to have their companies
identified, confirmed that the texts included represent ten of the top twelve to
fifteen selling texts in each area.

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A second limitation of this study is that the effect of incorporating ethics into
introductory economics, intermediate microeconomics, the principles of marketing, and the principles of management has not been empirically tested. Other
researchers have proposed methods to undertake this line of research (Hiltebeitel
and Jones, 1992 and Trevino, 1992). These researchers have used the Defining
Issues Test (DIT) to measure the effect of ethics training on moral reasoning
(Hiltebeitel and Jones, 1992,38 and Trevino, 1992,445-59). Specifically, looking
at accounting classes, Hiltebeitel and Jones found that the inclusion of a short
ethics unit in one class will not make a large difference, but it does appear that
students were affected when modules were included in numerous business
courses (Hiltebeitel and Jones, 1992,43). Burton, Johnston, and Wilson (1991)
have also generated results that offer fairly convincing evidence that at least in
the short-run the teaching of ethics across the business curriculum can impact
students' attitudes and opinions.
Ill

The Economics Texts

IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER (fuUy referenced later), the top-selling introductory economics text considered for this study are listed below.
Principles of Economics Textbooks

Baumol and Blinder: Economics, Principles and Policy

Byrns and Stone: Economics
Case and Fair: Principles of Economics
McConnell and Brue: Economics, Principles, Problems, and Policies
McEachern: Economics, A Contemporary Introduction
Mansfield: Economics, Principles, Problems, Decisions
Miller: Economics Today
Parking: Economics
Samuelson and Nordhaus: Economics
Schiller: The Economy Today

When analyzing these ten texts, nine key words were used to identify ethical
and moral discussions within them. The nine key words searched for were:
distribution, equity, ethics, fair(ness), justice, morals, normative, rights, and
values. As was expected, the principles of economics texts had limited coverage
of most of these key words and topics. Some texts had as few as three pages of
total discussion on these nine topics (McConnell and Brue, 1993, 6 and 8 1 82). Most of the texts defined economics as "a social science that uses positive

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analysis. . ." (Miller, 1994, 12). All the texts included a brief definition, but
not a lengthy discussion, of normative economics; such as.
Normative economics. . . involves someone's value judgments about what the economy
should be like or what particular action should be recommended based on a given economic
generalization . . . Whenever words such as "ought" or "should" appear in a sentence, there
is a strong chance you are dealing with a normative statement (McConnell and Brue,
1993, 6).

With respect to normative economics, many writers argue that the study of
these matters is not really economics. Case and Fair (1992, 13) state that the
study of normative economic matters, ". . . is often cMed policy economics."
To this Samuelson and Nordhaus (1992, 9) add, "[t]hese questions [normative
questions] are resolved by political decisions, not by economic science." Parkin
goes as far as to state:
. . . the activity of doing science cannot settle a normative matter, and the possession of
scientific knowledge does not equip a person with superior morals or norms . . . We settle
normative disagreements in the political, not the scientific, arena (Parkin, 1993, 17).

On a slightly different note, the authors realize that there is nothing particularly
ethical about the market system as a mechanism for distributing output (McConnell and Brue, 1993, 82). As Schiller states, "It is at least conceivable that
the efficiency of the price system may conflict with standards of equity or fairness," (Schiller, 1991, 18). When this occurs, ". . . government intervention
may be needed to redistribute income," (Schiller, 1991, 65). Samuelson and
Nordhaus argue this same point:
Markets do not necessarily produce a distribution of income that is regarded as socially
fair or equitable. A pure laissez-faire market economy may produce unacceptably high levels
of inequality of income and consumption . . . If a democratic society does not like the
distribution of dollar votes under a laissez-faire market system, it can take steps to change
the distribution of income, (Samuelson and Nordhaus, 1992, 43).

The discussion on income distribution and income redistribution is often

limited to one specialized chapter (see: Case and Fair, 1992, chapter 17 or
Samuelson and Nordhaus, 1992, chapter 21). These chapters are generally macroeconomic in nature and briefly discuss moral philosophers' ideas regarding
distribution and a "just" distribution of income. Topics discussed in these specialized chapters include utilitarian justice and Rawlsian justice (Case and Fair,
1992, 492). If income is to be redistributed, it may be redistributed according
to one of three standards: the contribution standard, the needs standard, or the
equality standard (Byrns and Stone, 1992,802-04). Under the contribution standard, income should be distributed according to the productivity of one's resources. Under the needs standard, income should be distributed according to
each individual's needs. Under the equality standard, income should be distributed equally across the entire population.

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When one moves to an analysis of the ethical discussion included in intermediate microeconomic texts, the findings do not change significantly. The topselling intermediate microeconomics text considered for this study are listed
in alphabetical order below
Intermediate Microeconomics Textbooks

Browning and Browning: Microeconomic Theory and Applications

Eaton and Eaton: Microeconomics
Frank: Microeconomics and Behavior
Katz and Rosen: Microeconomics
Mansfield: Microeconomics, Theory/Applications
Maurice and Phillips: Economic Analysis, Theory and Applications
Nicholson: Intermediate Microeconomics and its Application
Pindyck and Rubinfeld: Microeconomics
Salvatore: Microeconomics
Varian: Intermediate Microeconomics

These intermediate microeconomic texts were surveyed using the same nine
key terms considered for the introductory economics texts, plus two additional
key terms. The terms added to the search of the microeconomic texts were
"social welfare function" and "welfare economics."
The intermediate microeconomic texts considered take almost the same approach to the positive versus normative question that the principles of economic
texts take. "This book takes a positive economic approach by seeking to explain
actual economic behavior," (Nicholson, 1990, 21). Alternatively, "(a) normative
statement, frequently indicated by the use of words like should or ought, must
be based in part on value judgments," (Browning and Browning, 1989,6). Some
of the texts take a slightly softer line because they realize managers of firms and
designers of new policies may have to be involved in normative considerations.
When value judgments are involved, microeconomists cannot pick the best policy. They can, however, clarify the relevant trade-offs and therefore illuminate
and sharpen the discussion of a particular issue or policy proposal, (Pindyck
and Rubinfeld, 1992,6).
Neither the principles texts nor the microeconomic texts mention the alternative approach of incorporating ethics into the study of economics proposed
by Professor Etzioni (1988). In Etzioni's work the neoclassical model is replaced
by a model that contains a moral dimension. Etzioni attempts to provide a theory
he called socio-economics (properly, socioeconomics) to synthesize or bridge
economics with the other social sciences (Swanson, 1992,545). Etzioni proposes
to replace the economist's idea of a rational individual who maximizes utility.

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with individuals who must balance pleasure and morality (Swanson, 1992, 547).
This is contrary to the concept of economic man presented in the economics
texts considered in this study.
What is different about the intermediate microeconomic texts is that several
include a discussion of social welfare and welfare economics. In such discussions, a social welfare function is postulated that measures the aggregate utility
of members of the community and embodies society's views on the relative
deservedness of individuals in society (see: Katz and Rosen, 1991, 438 or
Salvatore, 1991, 569 and 586). Welfare economics slightly misses the mark as
a discussion of ethics and equity. Welfare economics, as it is usually covered
in intermediate microeconomics texts, studies the conditions under which
the solution to the general equilibrium model is "optimal." It examines the
conditions for economic efficiency in the production of output and in the
exchange of commodities. These optimal points are determined in terms of
Pareto Optimality (see: Pareto, 1896-1897 or Eaton and Eaton, 1991, 16-17).
Several points of production can be Pareto Optimal. To judge one point superior to another requires deciding whose well-being is more important, and
economics still does not provide an answer to this question. The authors of
the texts are aware that it is almost impossible to define social welfare accurately
and even more improbable to define maximum social welfare (Maurice and
Phillips, 1992, 648). This proposition is true in spite of the work of Hicks
(1939), Kaldor (1939), and Scitovsky (1941).
As Katz and Rosen argue (1991,440),". . . even if the economy generates a
Pareto-efficient allocation of resources, government intervention may be necessary to achieve a 'fair' distribution of utility." It is clear that in these texts
there is still no agreed-upon definition of what constitutes equity or justice. The
authors are aware of the ethical nature of the models they present, yet, they are
still unable to deal with ethical and equity questions.
IV
Marketing and Management Texts
UNLIKE THE DISCUSSION accorded to ethics in the study of economics, authors
in management and marketing have thoroughly embraced ethics into their texts.
The extent of that integration becomes apparent in a review of the leading texts
in each field.
Listed, in alphabetical order, in the table below are the nine management
textbooks reviewed for this study; in each case, selected information on the
coverage of ethics is tabulated. An "x" in thefirstcolumn of the table indicates
that a complete chapter on ethics is included in the text. The second column

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297

indicates that case-studies regarding ethical issues are considered. The third
column indicates that ethical issues are discussed in each chapter throughout
the text.
Principles of Management Textbooks

Author & Text

Bateman and ZeithimI:
Management Function and
Strategy
CertO: Modern Management
Daft: Management
Griffin: Management
Hellriegel and Slocum:
Management
Robbins: Management
Schermerhorn: Management for
Productivity
Stoner and Freiman: Management
Trewatha, Newport, and Johnson:
Management

Chapter
on Ethics

Case(s)
on Ethics

Ethics
Throughout

Learning the basics for sound decision making is a key objective in the study
of business disciplines. Authors in the managementfieldapparently have a strong
commitment to the belief that, "Understanding ethical approaches helps managers build a solid foundation on which to base future decision making" (Daft,
1994,151). Commitment can be seen in the above tabulation; every text surveyed
contains a chapter on ethics and its relation to decision making in thefirm(often
combined with a discussion on social responsibility), followed by at least one
or two cases illustrating an ethical issue.
Also, six of the nine management texts contain specific references to ethical
issues in each chapter throughout the text. Management texts have evolved
into a fully integrative approach in the coverage of ethics; it is not a topic
"added on" as a latter chapter in the text; rather, it is a topic covered extensively in thefirstthree tofivechapters then addressed continually throughout
the text.
Although the modeling preciseness of marginal analysis may be viewed as
the exclusive purview of the economist, students in management, like those of
economics, are concerned with the performance of thefirm.Based on the extent
of coverage given ethics in the various principles of management texts, it is

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apparent that authors in the field agree that, "The employment of ethical business
practices can enhance overall corporate health" (Certo, 1994, 73). With the
principles of management focus on human "behavioral patterns it comes as no
surprise that authors in management argue that ethics is ". . . part and parcel
of the conduct of business" (Bateman, 1993,164).
The coverage of ethics has also taken hold in the various principles of marketing texts reviewed for this paper; eleven of the leading textbooks in marketing
were reviewed, and the extent of coverage found is presented below.
Principles of Marketing Textbooks

Author & Text

Assael: Marketing Principles &
Strategy
Berkowitz, Kerin, Hartley, and
Rudeiius: Marketing
Evans and Berman: Marketing
Kotler and Armstrong: Marketing
An Introduction
Lamb, Hair, and McDaniel:
Principles of Marketing
McCarthy and Perreault: Basic
Marketing
Pride and Ferrell: Marketing
Concepts and Strategies
Schoell and Guiltinan:
Marketing Contemporary
Concepts and Practices
Skinner: Marketing
Stanton, Etzel, and Walker:
Fundamentals of Marketing
Zikmund and d'Amico:
Marketing

Chapter
on Ethics

Case(s)
on Ethics

Ethics
Throughout

X
X

X
X

X
X

The tabulations above illustrate that, although authors in marketing appear

to agree with their counterparts in management concerning the importance of
addressing ethical issues, there are significant differences in the treatment in
the two fields. While devotion to a chapter on ethics and related topics is universal
in the management texts surveyed, four of the eleven marketing texts do not
devote a chapter to the topic; the discrepancy is even more apparent in the
presentation of cases related to the topic. The management texts all contain at

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299

least one case focusing on an ethical issue, and most texts have three or more
such cases. Conversely, only three of the eleven marketing texts contain a case
or cases that address ethical issues.
Pride and Ferrell have assumed the lead in the coverage of ethics. Their text.
Marketing Concepts and Strategies (1993), devotes a chapter with cases to ethics
and related topics. Each major section of the text has both a strategic marketing
case and an ethics in marketing case at the end of the section. In addition,
ethical issues are addressed in other chapters as they relate to the topic of the
respective chapters. This extensive coverage reflects the authors' philosophy on
ethics that, ". . . this concept and its application need to be examined to foster
marketing decisions that are acceptable and beneficial to society" (Pride and
Ferrell, 1993, 72).
Commitment to such a philosophy may be especially important in the study
of marketing due primarily to students' and society's perception of marketing.
Reflecting that view, in his work on the importance of ethics. Smith states, "An
ethical concern about and possibly even hostility towards marketing is usually
founded on accusations about dubious means used to sell products that people
don't need" (Smith, 1988, 11).
On the other hand, not all authors in marketing agree with the necessity of a
fully integrative approach in discussing questions of an ethical nature. Nevertheless, all of the marketing texts address the issue to some degree. The one
concept that seems universal in both management and marketing texts is that
". . . the consequences of ignoring ethics must be acknowledged" (Smith,
1988, 15). That observation would appear to have as much application in the
study of economics as in the study of management and marketing.
V
Conclusions

prior to undertaking this research, was that

marketing and management texts provide far more extensive coverage of ethical
issues than do the introductory or the intermediate microeconomic textbooks.
The research presented in this paper fails to reject that hypothesis. Casual empiricism also shows that principles of management textbooks more readily discuss ethical issues than do principles of marketing textbooks. Two questions
still remain.
The first question asks if there is an inherent problem with the econdmics
textbooks surveyed, given their lack of coverage about either ethical or equity
issues. This question arises out of the comments in the introduction to the paper
that presents arguments for an integration of ethics throughout the business

THE AUTHORS' IMPLICIT HYPOTHESIS,

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American Journal of Economics and Sociology

curriculum. Conversely, the validity of the question must be considered. One

may view economics as a ' 'systems" discipline, whereas, management and marketing may be viewed as disciplines having a focus on interpersonal relationships.
As such, one would expect that a study of ethics, stemming from personal values
and beliefs, is of more consequence in the latter, rather than in the former
discipline. Therefore, the coverage of ethics in management and marketing
texts would be expected to be greater than in economics texts.
The second question exists only if the answer to the first question is yes. The
second question asks, what should and can be done to integrate ethical concerns
and issues into the study of undergraduate economics (assuming this is needed
and not repetitious)? It is suggested by the authors that the integration of ethics
and economics would be more appropriate in microeconomics than in macroeconomics. It is microeconomics that deals with the decisions made by individual economic units and the values which influence behavior. It is suggested
by the authors that microeconomic textbook writers develop an integrative approach to the study of ethics. Both microeconomics and ethics are studies of
choice. Microeconomics is concerned with efficiency in decision-making based
on objective standards or goals. Ethics deals with efficiency in decision-making
based on more subjective standards, such as, justice, fairness, and need. It would
seem that examining the difference inherent in the two disciplines of choice
would be an interesting endeavor.
Notes
1. The authors do not wish to imply that ethical issues are the only important topics recognized
hy AACSB. Ethical issues are only one of nine topics the AACSB requires schools of business to
cover. Furthermore, there is no requirement that all the topics be covered in every course. The
coverage of global, political, social, legal, regulatory, environmental, technological, and diversity
issues are also legitimate concerns.
2. In some business programs, students may not be required to take intermediate microeconomics. Many business programs may alternatively require students to take labor economics or
money and banking. Other programs may require managerial economics, business and government, or the history of economic thought. It is hypothesized that if the texts from these classes
were surveyed, the results would be similar to those developed surveying intermediate microeconomic texts.

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Principles of Economics Textbooks

Baumol, William J. and Alan S. Blinder. Economics, Principles and Policy, 5th ed. New York:
Harcoun, 1991.
Byrns, Ralph T. and Gerald W. Stone, Jr. Economics, 5th ed. New York: Harper Collins, 1992.
Case, Karl E. and Ray C. Fair. Principles of Economics, 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice
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McConnell, Campbell R. and Stanley L. Brue. Economics, Principles, Problems, and Policies,
12th ed. NewYork: McGraw-Hill, 1993.
McEachern, William A. Economics, A Contemporary Introduction, 3rd ed. Cincinnati, OH: Southwestern, 1994.
Mansfield, Edwin. Economics, Principles, Problems, Decisions, 7th ed. NewYork: W. W. Norton,
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Miller, Roger Leroy. Economics Today, 8th ed. NewYork: Harper Collins, 1994.

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American Journal of Economics and Sociology

Parkin, Michael. Economics, 2nd ed. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1993.

Samuelson, Paul A. and William D. Nordhaus. Economics, 14th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill,
1992.
Schiller, Bradley R. The Economy Today, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991.

Intermediate Microeconomics Textbooks

Browning, Edgar K. andjacquelene M. Browning. Microeconomic Theory and Applications, 3rd
ed. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman, 1989.
Eaton, B. Curtis and Diane E. Eaton. Microeconomics, 2nd ed. New York: W. H. Freeman, 1991.
Frank, Robert H. Microeconomics and Behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991.
Katz, Michael L. and Harvey S. Rosen. Microeconomics. Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1991.
Mansfield, Edwin. Microeconomics, Theory/Applications, 7th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1991.
Maurice, S. Charles and Owen R. Phillips. Economic Analysis, Theory and Applications, 6th ed.
Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1992.
Nicholson, Walter. Intermediate Microeconomics and its Application, 5th ed. Chicago: Dryden,
1990.
Pindyck, Robert S. and Daniel L. Rubinfeld. Microeconomics, 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan,
1992.
Salvatore, Dominick. Microeconomics, New York: Harper Collins, 1991.
Varian, Hal R. Intermediate Microeconomics, 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1990.

Principles of Marketing Textbooks

Assael, Henry. Marketing Principles & Strategy, 2nd ed. Orlando, EL: Dryden, 1993.
Berkowitz, Eric N., Roger A. Kerin, Steven W. Hartley, and William Rudelius. Marketing, 4th ed.
Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1994.
Evans, Joel R. and Barry Berman. Marketing, 6th ed. New York: Macmillan, 1994.
Kotler, Philip and Gary Armstrong. Marketing An Introduction, 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall, 1993.
Lamb, Charles, W., Jr., Joseph F. Hair, Jr., and Carl McDaniel, Principles of Marketing, 2nd. ed.
Cincinnati, OH: Southwestern, 1994.
McCarthy, E. Jerome and William D. Perreault, Jr. Basic Marketing, llth ed. Homewood, IL:
Irwin, 1993.
Pride, William M. and O. C. Eerrell. Marketing Concepts and Strategies, 8th ed. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1993.
Schoell, William E. and Joseph P. Guiltinan. Marketing Contemporary Concepts and Practices,
5th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1992.
Skinner, Steven J. Marketing, 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
Stanton, William J., Michael J. Etzel, and Bruce J. Walker. Fundamentals of Marketing, 10th ed.
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994.
Zikmund, William G. and Michael d'Amico. Marketing 4th ed. St. Paul, MN: West, 1993.

Principles of Management Textbooks

Bateman, Thomas S., and Carl P. Zeithiml. Management Function and Strategy, 2nd ed. Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1993.
Certo, Samuel C. Modern Management, 6th ed. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1994.
Daft, Richard L. Management, 3rd ed. Orlando, FL: Dryden, 1994.

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Griffin, Ricky W. Management, 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993.

Hellriegel, Don and John W. Slocum,Jr. Management, 6th ed. New York: Addison-Wesley, 1992.
Robbins, Stephen P. Management, 4th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1994.
Schermerhorn, John R., Jr. Management for Productivity, 4th ed. New York: John Wiley, 1993.
Stoner, James A. F., and R. Edward Freiman. Management, 5th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PrenticeHall, 1992.
Trewatha, Robert L., M. Gene Newport, and J. Lynn Johnson. Management, revised ed. Houston,
TX: Dame, 1993.

Herbert Stein: On Convictions

IN DISAVOWING LIBERAL OR CONSERVATIVE CONVICTIONS, I do not mean to suggest

that I have no convictions. But my convictions do not all fit comfortably within
either the liberal or the conservative box, and I am hesitant about the derivation
of policy decisions in particular cases from general ideologies or attitudes. The
principle that seems to me to require the least qualification is that the government
should not intervene in the heart of the marketin the determination of relative
prices and the allocation of labor and capital among various industries. But
beyond that, the policy issues are more difficult and require more case-by-case
discrimination. I believe that the government has major responsibilities for
maintaining conditions in which high employment can be achieved and the
general level of prices will be stable, in which the poor and disadvantaged are
assisted, and in which competition is preserved. But how far these objectives
should be pursued, by what means, and with what expectations for success are
issues that should be considered open-mindedly and with full awareness of the
limitations of our knowledge. We will not find the answers in the back of the
textbook. Some of the policy questions now facing the country are discussed,
I hope in this open-minded way, in parts of this book.'
From the "Introduction" to On the Other Hand, Washington: The AEI Press, 1995

The Economics of Stealth

THERE IS A homely but well-accepted American colloquialism which says that
'The silent hog eats the s w i l l , ' . . . it happens that American conditions during
the past one hundred years have been peculiarly favourable to the patient and
circumspect man who will rather wait than work.. . . America has been a land
of free and abounding resources; which is to say, when converted into terms of
economic theory, that it is the land of the unearned increment."
DAVID RIESMAN*

[This passage is quoted from Higher Learning in the reissued 1953 Thorstein Vehlen by
Riesman, (Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1995). This volume has a new Introduction
by Stjepan G. Mestrovic.)