Ethics and Development: Between Well-being, Livelihood and Market

Abstract

In today’s development discourse, the implementation and facilitation of a liberal market economy is assumed to be the crucial asset to success in the developing world. However, this article elaborates on the role of ethical values such as freedom, justice and care as necessary for a development concept that is concerned with the improvement of people’s well-being and livelihood. It therefore takes as a point of departure the ethical capabilities of people, and sees this as important for daily interaction and economic behaviour, while concurrently claiming that substantial understanding of freedom, justice and care has developmental features when exercised at the national level. The Listian concept of “capital of mind” augmented with the Aristotelian urge for “Eudaimonia” constitute the basis for this elaboration.