Aaron Levine, in his book Economics and Jewish Law: Halakhic Perspectives, makes a strong case for the relevance of biblical ethics to modern policy concerns. His arguments, while persuasive at one level, are more problematic when he attempts to derive specific insights for the governance of modern capitalism. The halakhic society was based on a set of presuppositions that are not completely transferred to modern society; the flow of information and the incentive structure are very different in the modern society as contrasted with the Jewish community; and the evolutionary nature of Jewish law and its theistic foundations made large-scale favor-seeking (a very real modern-day problem) unlikely.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anderson, Terry L. and Peter J. Hill (1989) The Birth of a Transfer Society . Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
2.
Crew, M.A. and C. Twight (1990) 'On the Efficiency of Law: A Public Choice Perspective', Public Choice66: 15-36.
3.
Elazar, Daniel J. (1973) 'Government in Biblical Israel', Tradition 13(4)/14(1) Spring/Summer double issue: 105-23.
4.
Elazar, Daniel J. and Stuart Cohen (1985) The Jewish Polity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
5.
Gottwald, Norman K. (1979) The Tribes of Yahweh. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.
6.
Gwartney, James D. and Richard E. Wagner, eds (1988) Public Choice and Constitutional Economics. Greenwich, CN: JAI Press .
7.
Hayek, Friedrich A. (1973) Law, Legislation, and Liberty vol. I: Rules and Order. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
