In Favor of Clear Thinking: Incorporating Moral Rules Into a Wise Cost-Benefit Analysis-Commentary on Bennis, Medin, & Bartels (2010)

Max H Bazerman; Joshua D Greene

doi:10.1177/1745691610362362

In Favor of Clear Thinking: Incorporating Moral Rules Into a Wise Cost-Benefit Analysis-Commentary on Bennis, Medin, & Bartels (2010)

Perspect Psychol Sci. 2010 Mar;5(2):209-12. doi: 10.1177/1745691610362362. Epub 2010 Mar 30.

Authors

Max H Bazerman¹, Joshua D Greene²

Affiliations

¹ Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA mbazerman@hbs.edu.
² Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

PMID: 26162128
DOI: 10.1177/1745691610362362

Abstract

Bennis, Medin, and Bartels (2010, this issue) have contributed an interesting article on the comparative benefit of moral rules versus cost-benefit analysis (CBA). Many of their specific comments are accurate, useful, and insightful. At the same time, we believe they have misrepresented CBA and have reached a set of conclusions that are misguided and, if adopted wholesale, potentially dangerous. Overall, they offer wise suggestions for making CBA more effective, rather than eliminating CBA as a decision-making tool.

Keywords: cost-benefit analysis; ethics; morality; rationality.