1.3 Ethics, Economics and Law

Question 1

1. The law is an important tool for….
2. It is primarily…
3. Not all laws are….
4. Not all immoral behavior…

Answer 1

1. …. responding to moral pluralism (eg murder)
2. …. reactive, which results in a lag between behavior being identified as socially harmful and legislation being passed to make that behavior illegal (eg environmental legislation)
3. …. morally defensible
4. …. can be made illegal

Question 2

Why is the law not enough?

1.
2.
3.
4.

Answer 2

• inappropriate for certain aspects of business activity
• slow to develop in areas of concern and often unsettled
• employs moral concepts that are not precisely defined
• ethics does not follow the law, and law can deviate from what is ethical