Every society's efforts to solve the four problems of economic life extend well beyond the definition of markets. As we saw in Chapter 5, even the preeminently economic problem of allocation is dependent for its success on a reasonable resolution of each of the other three problems of distribution, scale, and the quality of relations. Thus, although the proper construction of markets is the first element in the moral ecology of economic life, it is only one of four.

The Construction of Markets by Government

As we have seen, most economic policy debates about markets are best understood as disagreements about where to construct the fences that define markets, about which prohibitions or regulations ought to be employed to prevent abuses from occurring within those markets. This construction of fences is the first element in the moral ecology of markets, and as we saw in Chapter 6, this process of fence construction addresses all four of the problems of economic life identified in Chapter 5.

However, even if from any individual's point of view those fences are put in precisely the right places, there will not be a positive assessment of the morality of that marketplace without the proper context. Thus in addition to markets themselves, we must attend to three other elements in the moral ecology of markets: the provision of essential goods and services, the morality of individuals and groups, and civil society.