Transcript Week 15 Lecture: Global Economy [PPT]

The Global Economy
and Moral Obligation
• Two kinds of duties:
– Negative duty—the duty not to
harm.
– Positive duty—the duty to help.
• We may have special
obligations to our compatriots,
but
• We have a duty not to harm
persons that applies to
everyone.
Harm and the Global
Economy
• Global economic and political
arrangements that harm people in
developing countries.
– Supporting bad governments and coups
• Resource privilege
• Borrowing privilege
• Corrupting government officials
Selling weapons
– Unfair trade arrangements.
– Restrictive borrowing policies.
– Working conditions that people in
developed countries would not tolerate.
– Environmental degradation.
Harm and Obligation in
the Global Economy
• Since we have an obligation not
to harm people, we have an
obligation to resist harmful
global arrangements, and/or to
volunteer or contribute to
organizations that are helping
(e.g. Oxfam, Doctors without
Borders).