6th Summer School​ in Political Philosophy ​and Public Policy

 In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in issues at the intersection of political philosophy and public policy. In particular, attention has increasingly turned to the question of what kind of institutions and policies would be needed in order to create a significantly more just society. This summer school will be devoted to the ethics of banking. The first topic will be devoted to recent financial history, ethical issues that have arisen, problems of moral hazard, contagion effects, etc. This is basically centered around the question of what the function of finance is in society, or what it should be. A second topic will focus on various players in the industry and their respective ethical issues: banks, central banks, insurance companies, etc. We’ll look at things such as insider trading, and debate the (i)morality of it, and/or such practices as frontrunning, churning, etc. Still another topic will be devoted to Professor Boudewijn de Bruin’s own research on epistemic virtues, debating the claim that ethics in finance ought to be sensitive to competence issues rather than (just) on greed or bonuses. We’ll look into corporate epistemic virtues, rotation policies, organizational opposition, credit rating agencies, and the way they outsource epistemic responsibility. A final topic on ethics management tools will be included as well, focusing on recent initiatives surrounding the bankers’ oath in the Netherlands, etc.