Ethics

Earlier this summer Brad and I had a small exchange over whether there is any sort of prima facie moral obligation to obey the law, which one might then use to derive a theory of ethics for those who run the system.  I've never been persuaded that there is such an obligation, certainly not by the sort of free rider arguments commonly used to justify it. 

My colleague Laurie Claus has just posted a wonderful piece surveying this terrain.  It's called The Empty Idea of Authority, and I recommend it to anyone interested.

DM