@article{Nelson:179107,
      recid = {179107},
      author = {Nelson, Julie A.},
      title = {Poisoning the Well, or How Economic Theory Damages Moral  Imagination},
      address = {2012-12},
      number = {1434-2016-118835},
      series = {GDAE Working Papers Series},
      year = {2012},
      abstract = {Contemporary mainstream economics has widely “poisoned the  well” from which people get their ideas about the  relationship between economics and ethics. The image of  economic life as inherently characterized by self-interest,  utility- and profit-maximization, and mechanical  controllability has caused many businesspeople, judges,  sociologists, philosophers, policymakers, critics of  economics, and the public at large to come to tolerate  greed and opportunism, or even to expect or encourage them.  This essay raises and discusses a number of  counterarguments that might be made to the charge that  current dominant professional practice is having negative  ethical effects, as well as discussing some examples of the  harms inflicted in the areas of law, care work, the  environment, and ethics itself.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/179107},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.179107},
}