Economic Reason and Political Reason

Jean Mercier Ythier is Professor of Economics at the Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, France. His research focuses on political economy, public economics and contemporary economic anthropology.

• Introduction xiJean MERCIER YTHIERPart 1 Normative Political Economy: Between Economic Reason and Political Reason 1Chapter 1 The “Difference Principle”: Economic Rationality and Political Applicability 3Claude GAMEL1.1 Introduction: equality norms and the “difference principle” in the public debate 31.1.1 Deliberation in public debate 31.1.2 The equality standard in evaluating inequalities 51.1.3 The singularity of the “difference principle” 71.2 Rationality: from philosophical objection to economic translation 101.2.1 The philosophical objection rather well overcome 101.2.2 An economic translation still under debate 131.3 Applicability: from political misunderstanding to societal complexity 191.3.1 The political misunderstanding to be cleared up 191.3.2 The societal complexity to be absorbed 261.4 Conclusion: a principle that is less philosophical than economic 301.5 References 31Chapter 2 The Public Sphere Between the State and the Market: From Rational Discussion to the Information and Communication Society 35Sylvain LAVELLE2.1 Publicity before and after Habermas 352.2 The public sphere between the State and the market 382.2.1 The origin of the concept in the public sphere 392.2.2 The public sphere and the systems of the State and the market 412.2.3. The development of the concept of the public sphere in Between Facts and Norms 422.2.4 The multiple dimensions of the public sphere 452.3 The public sphere and rational discussion 482.3.1 The rational discussion model 482.3.2 The political ideal put to the test of reality 502.3.3 The critique of reason and discourse 522.3.4 The critique of margin and class 562.4 The public sphere and the information and communication society 602.4.1 The challenges of the information and communication society 602.4.2 The public sphere of the media 612.4.3 The public sphere in the age of the Internet and globalization 632.4.4 The public sphere of the information and communication society 662.5 The idea of the political sphere 682.5.1 Beyond procedural policy 682.5.2 A paradigm shift 702.5.3 From the public sphere to the political sphere 732.5.4 The political sphere between the State, the market and society 752.6 The dialectics of publicity 762.7 References 79Chapter 3 Contracts Rather than Deliberation: Robert Sugden’s Normative Economics 85Bertrand CRETTEZ3.1 Introduction 853.2 Sugden’s public reasoning approach 863.3 The contractarian point of view: principles 883.4 The psychological stability of the market from a contractionary perspective 923.5 Discussion of the hypotheses 963.6 Making the market more moral 983.7 An assessment of the principle of mutual benefit 1023.8 Conclusion 1043.9 Acknowledgments 1063.10 References 107Chapter 4 From a Hegelian to a Smithian Reading of Rawls 109Ragip EGE and Herrade IGERSHEIM4.1 Introduction 1094.2 Hegel and the reasonable/rational duo 1144.3 The Smithian impartial spectator: a conceptual trio 1234.4 Conclusion 1274.5 References 128Part 2 Reasons and Persons 131Chapter 5 Personal Identity, Public Deliberation and Behavioral Public Policy 133Cyril HÉDOIN5.1 Introduction 1335.2 Behavioral public policy and paternalism 1355.3 Normative behavioral economics, welfare and identity 1395.4 Personal identity and the plurality of conceptions of the good 1445.5 Public deliberation and justification of behavioral public policies 1485.6 Conclusion 1545.7 Acknowledgments 1555.8 References 155Chapter 6 Preferential Choice, Logical Action and Communication Ethics 159Jean MERCIER YTHIER6.1 Preferential choice and logical action 1596.2 Practical choice: logical form and phenomenological substance of the preferential choice 1636.3 Preferential choice and the axioms of rational choice: logical analysis 1666.4 Deliberate choice as rational preferential choice: logical reconstruction and evaluation 1706.4.1 Robustness: reflexivity, binarity and acyclicity of the preference relation 1726.4.2 Accuracy: completeness of the preference relation 1836.4.3 Transparency: transitivity of the preference relation 1946.5 A tentative conclusion on epistemology and ethics 1966.6 Appendix 1986.7 References 203Part 3 Public Debate and Public Policy 207Chapter 7 Issues of “Stakeholder” Recognition in Collaborative Deliberation 209Emmanuel PICAVET7.1 Introduction 2097.2 Authority and recognition of contributions 2107.2.1 Public and private 2107.2.2 Reciprocal support of actors, recognition and collective initiative 2137.2.3 Structure of action and structure of its environment 2167.3 The organization’s environment and stakeholders 2187.3.1 Descriptive choices 2187.3.2 Contributions of the “stakeholder” approach 2197.3.3 Endogeneity, exogeneity and power in the commitments of an organization 2217.4 Conclusion 2237.5 References 225Chapter 8 Rethinking the Social Contract in the Digital Age 227Bruno DEFFAINS8.1 Introduction 2278.2 Toward the questioning of the social contract 2328.2.1 An economic model in question 2348.2.2 Increasing inequality 2358.2.3 The end of homo economicus? 2368.2.4 Attention as a scarce resource 2378.2.5 The principle of intensity and voluntary servitude 2388.3 An explosive cocktail! 2428.4 Re-founding the social contract 2448.4.1 A look back at “liberating science” 2458.4.2 Revisiting the human-machine relationship 2488.4.3 Digital ontology and ethics 2518.5 Individual responsibility and collective solidarity 2548.6 Acknowledgments 2568.7 References 256Chapter 9. Public Management of Rivers: The Deliberative Test  259Julie RIEGEL9.1 Introduction 2599.2 Voluntary consultations, between desires and fears of dialog 2619.2.1 Gaining residents’ acceptance of the projects 2619.2.2 The moderators of the consultations: a regime of sharing rather than opinion 2639.3 Contrasting memories and effects of the consultation 2669.3.1 “We were listened to We were able to talk” 2669.3.2 A bitter memory of the consultation and unresolved management actions 2699.4 Framing the consultation and developing scales 2729.4.1 The status of expertise: determining or supporting the discussion 2729.4.2 Normativity and scales of general interest in consultations 2749.5 Conclusion 2779.6 References 278Chapter 10 The Economics of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services between Monetary Valuation and Deliberation 283Franck-Dominique VIVIEN10.1 The economy at the service of nature conservation? 28410.1.1 Is nature irreplaceable? 28410.1.2 What is the cost of biodiversity erosion? 28610.1.3 Continuing the debate on sustainability around ecosystem services 29010.2 An overview of the controversy surrounding the economic value of nature 29210.2.1 The standard economic approach and the issue of undervaluing nature in economic terms 29210.2.2 The London School: environmental pragmatism 29310.2.3 The conventionalist approach 29510.2.4 Joan Martinez-Alier’s ecological socioeconomics: valuation conflicts and incommensurability 29810.2.5 A research approach: deliberative monetary evaluation 29910.3 Conclusion 30110.4 References 302List of Authors 309Index 311