Abstract
Economic discourse has undergone a profound transformation from its moral-philosophical origins to contemporary mathematical formalism. This study examines whether the shift toward formalized economic writing resulted in the marginalization of explicit ethical reasoning. Through comparative textual analysis of twelve chapters from six influential works—spanning from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (1776) to Milton Friedman’s methodological essays (1953)— the research identifies a pattern in which ethics is less and less prevalent. Pre-formalist economists like Smith and Marx integrated moral arguments directly into their analytical frameworks, examining questions of exploitation, justice, and social welfare as central to economic inquiry. Post-formalist economists, pursuing scientific objectivity inspired by physics, adopted mathematical methods that systematically excluded ethical concepts. The results saw a general decrease in value-laden language, explicit ethics, and ethical argument integration as the works became newer. While this transformation enhanced methodological rigor and professional legitimacy, it also diminished economics’ capacity to address normative questions about fairness, distribution, and human flourishing. The discipline’s original purpose—moral critique—became professionally inappropriate, marking a fundamental reversal in economics’ intellectual mission.
Recommended Citation
Phan, Mi and Scharnhorst, Rhiannon
(2026)
"The Evolution of Economic Rhetoric and Its Correlation with the Marginalization of Ethics in Economics,"
Undergraduate Research (Journal): Vol. 5:
Iss.
1, Article 2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.58361/2766-3590.1083
Available at:
https://kb.gcsu.edu/undergraduateresearch/vol5/iss1/2