Ensuring Fair and Stable Prices: The Torah View

Abstract

More than 100 of the 613 precepts of the Torah (the Five Books of Moses) deal with business ethics. This paper focuses on an overlooked precept: ensuring price stability. There is a tendency to trivialize the law mandating that prices be kept low and affordable. Indeed, very few people are aware that the ninth blessing of the ancient Amida (also known as shemoneh esrei) prayer, established by the 120 members of the Great Assembly in the 5th century BCE, is a prayer for divine protection against individuals who would raise prices unjustly. This paper illustrates the importance of this law and provides interesting stories and examples of individuals who protected the public against hoarders.

Keywords: Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, hoarding, price stability, medical ethics, kashrut organizations, Amidah prayer

JEL Classification: A13, B11, D63, J7, K00, M14, M5, N00, N01