FairEconomy. Crises, Culture, Competition and the Role of Law

This synopsis contains excerpts from and novel introductions to the four chapters constituting “FairEconomy. Crises, Culture, Competition and the Role of Law”, a monograph co-authored and published by the late Wolfgang Fikentscher, Philipp Hacker and Rupprecht Podszun in 2013. In honor and continuation of Wolfgang Fikentscher's unwavering commitment to open access to scholarship, we are thus presenting the most relevant parts and arguments of the book in universally accessible format, with the kind permission of the publisher.In the first chapter, we draw on anthropology and economic theory to show that (i) the chief objective of “the economy” is to fulfill basic human needs and that (ii) it is currently far from achieving this aim. We suggest that, not only but also in response to the financial crises haunting the global economy, a reorientation toward the necessary normative foundations of the economy is in order; a reorientation that includes a commitment to fairness as a key concept to build trust, structure economic interactions, and distribute surplus. We trace legal concepts operationalizing the subjective right to a fair economy in Western legal history in order to show that the economy is never simply natural or emergent, but always instituted by a complex web of legal, political and cultural arrangements that demand particular attention – and readjustments – in times of crises. In the following two chapters, we spell out the content of FairEconomy in competition law and securities regulation, the two crucial domains for the regulation of contemporary economic activity. The final chapter offers perspectives on global institutions for the enforcement of fairness-oriented norms in market transactions