"Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals?" Highlights from the CE Public Lecture
The Center for Ethics Public Lecture Series welcomed Virgil Storr to Tulane for a talk entitled “Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals?” on Thursday, April 24, 2025. Storr is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University who specializes in the social and moral aspects of markets, the challenges of community recovery after disasters, how culture affects economic activity, and the social and economic history of the Bahamas. The event, held in the Diboll Gallery of the Malkin Sacks Commons, featured an impactful lecture by Professor Storr, focusing on the intersection of economics and morality.
Storr’s lecture challenged common perceptions of markets as morally corrupting. He argued that both critics and defenders of markets agree on certain moral failings but fail to adequately address whether they are inherently corrupt.
"It turns out that there's a strange kind of debate about the morality of markets that takes place,” he said. “The people who love markets, ironically, seem to also think that there's something morally problematic about markets."
Storr’s inquiry led him to propose three key propositions regarding the morality of market societies compared to non-market societies. Through empirical analysis, he provided evidence suggesting that market societies tend to yield better outcomes in several key areas such as health, education, and overall well-being.
"This claim ‘do markets corrupt us?’ isn't a philosophical claim at all,” he said. “It's actually a theoretical claim about what markets are and how markets actually can work, and an empirical claim about how markets have worked in the past." This contradicts common beliefs that markets lead to moral decline. His findings encourage a reevaluation of how we view the moral implications of economic systems.
Drawing from historical examples like the socio-economic progression in the Bahamas among enslaved individuals with market access, Storr contended that market environments not only foster virtuous behaviors but also enhance charitable actions, altruism, and social trust. This counterintuitive view invites a broader conversation about the relational dynamics between economics and ethical practices.
Ultimately, he posited that interaction in markets could enable individuals to cultivate moral character, emphasizing the importance of contextualizing market behavior within a well-structured policy framework, particularly how policies impact the ethical landscape of market behaviors and the regulatory impacts on market dynamics.
Engaging questions from the audience led to further nuanced exploration of how markets can either cultivate or challenge moral behavior, underscoring the complexity of the relationship between economic conditions and moral actions and the need for a dynamic approach to understanding evolving social norms as influenced by economic systems.
The Center for Ethics public lectures serve as a vital platform for intellectual exchange, where scholars and practitioners from a broad range of intellectual and professional disciplines and concerned citizens can engage with pressing ethical questions. Since 2001, the Center for Ethics has hosted more than 200 guest speakers discussing contemporary topics in ethics. Lectures are free and open to all members of the Tulane community as well as the general public.
