Baker, Raymond W2019-09-252019-09-252010-02-132008http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12424/173852Over the past half century, an integrated global financial structure to facilitate the movement of illicit money has been created. This structure comprises tax havens, secrecy jurisdictions, disguised corporations, anonymous trust accounts, fake foundations, falsified pricing, and money-laundering techniques. This structure moves corrupt, criminal, and commercially tax evading money easily across borders. Global illicit financial flows are estimated at $1 to $1.6 trillion a year, with half—$500 to $800 billion a year—coming out of developing countries into western economies. These illicit flows undermine foreign aid, contribute to poverty and inequality in poorer countries, undermine the fight against global crime, and negatively impact the security interests of richer nations. Yet this structure and these illicit financial flows find justifications in the maximizing underpinnings of the capitalist system, contrary to the vision of Adam Smith but consistent with the vision of Jeremy Bentham. The teaching of situational ethics does not appear to satisfactorily address this issue. Teachers of ethics in business, law and economics schools may wish to consider segueing entirely into the teaching of philosophy and how the philosophical foundations of capitalism may evolve in the future.engWith permission of the license/copyright holderglobalizationmoney launderingPhilosophyEconomic ethicsEthics of economic systemsPreprint