Ethics, Economics, and Global Justice

In response to the prevailing market turmoil and the need for a just global policy, Dr Williams urges governments, businesses and individuals to accept the importance of patience in building up the bonds of trust that have been fractured by the economic downturn:

"We need to...try to restore an acknowledgement of the role of trust as something which needs time to develop; and so also to move away from an idea of wealth or profit which imagines that they can be achieved without risk, and to return to the primitive capitalist idea of risk sharing as an essential element in the equitable securing of wealth for all"

Dr Williams argues that it is essential for ethical behaviour to be an integral part of the economic process:

"Ethics... is about negotiating conditions in which the most vulnerable are not abandoned.  And we shall care about this largely to the extent to which we are conscious of our own vulnerability and limitedness." 

"What is good in God's eyes for human beings not something that is altered by differences in culture or income; we can't say that what is unwelcome or evil for us is tolerable for others."

He also argues that protectionist policies conflict with our ideas of ethical behaviour, especially in relation to the markets of the developing world:

"Morally, protectionism implicitly accepts that wealth maintained at the cost of the neighbour's disadvantage or worse is a tolerable situation – which is a denial of the belief that what is good for humanity is ultimately coherent or convergent.  Such a denial is a sinister thing, since it undermines the logic of assuming that what the other finds painful I should find painful too – a basic element of what we generally consider maturely or sanely ethical behaviour.  Practically, protectionism is another instance of short-term vision, securing prosperity here by making prosperity impossible somewhere else; in a global context, this is inexorably a factor in ultimately shrinking potential markets."

The Archbishop also underlines the gravity of the environmental situation, and urges that this not be forgotten in the economic process:

"...environmental cost has to be factored into economic calculations as a genuine cost in opportunity, resource and durability – and thus a cost in terms of doing justice to future generations.  There needs to be a robust rebuttal of any idea that environmental concerns are somehow a side issue or even a luxury in a time of economic pressure; the questions are inseparably connected."

Full text of the lecture can be found here