The Moral Foundation of Collective Action Against Economic Crimes

Abstract

In recent years, economic and financial crimes have been increasing at a fast pace. No country, society, culture or community has been immune from its ravages, yet the international community has failed to cooperate in finding a solution. The main reason for failure may be the lack of a clearly articulated moral foundation. A universal moral principle that could serve as the foundation must be concerned with “harm” and its prevention, and attract universal “consent.” We argue that the Golden Rule satisfies these requirements. The golden rule of “no harm” buttressed by the specificity of the four categories of “generic rights” and “basic good,” i.e. human dignity, trust, contract, and property, could emerge as a consensual global moral principle and allow the development of legislations, laws, standards, codes and conventions that would be accepted and respected by the entire international community in the fight against economic crimes.

Keywords: Economic Crimes, Golden Rule, Globalization, Moral, Foundation, Cooperation, Harm, Consent

JEL Classification: A13, A12