Just Price Theory

Book excerpt: This book presents an original theory of the just price, and it is a welcome addition to scholarship on a radically underdeveloped field. This work reassesses the age-old idea that there is a just price of things, one that goes beyond the Scholastic tradition of the just price and its exclusive concern with commutative justice. There is more to just price theory than the concern for keeping equality of value between goods exchanged. Modern concerns over efficiency, autonomy, and distributive justice, can also find a place within a theory of the just price. The book: - Presents a new approach to just price theory through a broad analysis of different values and the incorporation of those conceptions into a wider normative framework - Argues that these different values ground varied conceptions of the just price, and - Promotes a virtue-based approach to price justification as an adequate framework for meeting the challenges that stem from each conception Perfect for scholars and students in the fields of jurisprudence, philosophy of private law, contract law, and political theory, this book makes a significant contribution to legal theory and the emerging field of the philosophy of economics.