The Finance and Social Justice conference at the University of Bayreuth discussed questions at the intersection of finance and social justice. The conference brought together academics from philosophy, economics, and related disciplines such as sociology, law, and economic history who work on finance and social justice.

The aim of the conference was to establish a dialogue between new empirical research on the impact of finance on society, and normative inquiry into the role of finance in a just society. On the empirical end, new research traces how the financial sector has grown in size, reach and complexity, and how it affects both individual economic actors and the macroeconomy. The rise of finance may transform which goals firms pursue, which opportunities households have, and how employees conceive of themselves. Economies may be increasingly driven by changes in the price of real estate and of financial assets, be managed by central bank policy rather than fiscal policy, and face higher risks of financial crises.

On the normative end, political philosophers and ethicists have started investigating ethical issues raised by particular financial products and their role for households, such as payday loans, mortgage contracts, or insurance products. They have investigated the epistemic shortcomings that contributed to causing the financial crisis. They also enquire into the moral limits of imposing systemic risk of financial crises, the legitimacy of new central bank policies such as quantitative easing, and the ethics of sovereign debt.

Date: 3-5 November 2016
Location: University of Bayreuth, Germany
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Organizers: Marco Meyer, Matthew Braham, Bernhard Herz