Economics doesn’t have anything normative to say about ethics.
But the descriptive part of economics definitely pairs up with ethic’s normative statements. It seems like if wolves are more valued by others than deer, the statement “destroy as little of what other people value as you can” needs to have an answer of the economic question “how much do other people value my options?” to function properly.
I disagree with PhilGoetz that wolves are valuable due solely to their scarcity- I think that some things, like smallpox or mosquitoes, should be endangered or extinct—but I think it’s pretty trivial to put together the argument that killing a wolf for pleasure is much, much more wrong than killing a deer for pleasure.
But the descriptive part of economics definitely pairs up with ethic’s normative statements. It seems like if wolves are more valued by others than deer, the statement “destroy as little of what other people value as you can” needs to have an answer of the economic question “how much do other people value my options?” to function properly.
I disagree with PhilGoetz that wolves are valuable due solely to their scarcity- I think that some things, like smallpox or mosquitoes, should be endangered or extinct—but I think it’s pretty trivial to put together the argument that killing a wolf for pleasure is much, much more wrong than killing a deer for pleasure.