The Limits of Markets in a World Where Values Matter

Abstract

Professor Gillian Hadfield’s astute Rules for a Flat Worldproposes a private market solution to rule-making because the current legislative or regulatory framework no longer meets the needs of a fast-paced digital economy. Further, lawyers have largely priced themselves out of the reach of many who would benefit from their services. By laying out Habermas’s criticisms of the flaws in social integration created by market mechanisms, the paper warns that Hadfield’s reliance on the market may import undesirable consequences into her proposal because the market structurally fails to address the human rights of many workers in the global economy. The paper then considers values such as dignity as proposed in Catholic Social Thought as a leavening agent to strengthen Hadfield’s paper from the standpoint of human rights.