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The Ethics of Global Capital Mobility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2021

CHIARA CORDELLI Open the ORCID record for CHIARA CORDELLI [Opens in a new window]  and
JONATHAN LEVY
CHIARA CORDELLI*
Affiliation:
University of Chicago, United States
JONATHAN LEVY*
Affiliation:
University of Chicago, United States
*
Chiara Cordelli, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Chicago, United States, [email protected].
Jonathan Levy, Professor, History & Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago, United States, [email protected].
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Abstract

Global capital mobility is a crucial determinant of economic, political, and social life. While much has been written about the ethics of human movement, political theory has remained nearly silent on the ethics of capital movement. In this article, we intend to develop a general account of the ethics of global capital mobility—identifying both the forms of mobility that merit protection and those that merit restriction. By integrating normative theorizing with an economic analysis of global investment, we argue that the movement of capital, with important exceptions, should be much more restricted than it is today. We make the case, on both grounds of global justice and international assistance, for imposing coercive limits on cross-border inflows and outflows of capital. To enable them, we also propose a radical reform of the international monetary system—a new global currency—that would simultaneously facilitate beneficial capital movements.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 116 , Issue 2 , May 2022 , pp. 439 - 452
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association

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