Tim Johnson — Ethics and Finance: The Role of Mathematics

I am wary of the sectarian divisions in economics, but I feel my thesis leans heavily towards certain aspects of Post-Keynsian thought, specifically relating to the non-neutrality of money and having to deal with ontological uncertainty. More broadly, I think the paper is a clear argument against the fact/value dichotomy in economics and is aligned with McCloskey's project promoting virtue ethics within economics.

I hope the thesis sits within Pielke's "honest broker" classification. The thesis is an apologia for the use of mathematics in finance, which includes an argument legitimising speculation, suggestin advocacy. However it also provides a framework, in the context of virtue ethics, for when speculation is legitimate. I believe it contributes to being an "honest broker" in that it opens the debate and recognises that science is implicitly based on values, and if we are to get finance right we need to examine the normative basis on which we work.

Magic, Maths, and Money — The Relationship between Finance and Science
Ethics and Finance: The Role of Mathematics
Tim Johnson | Academic Fellow in the Department of Actuarial Mathematics and Statistics, Heriot Watt University