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Can Lying Ever Be Virtuous?
In his latest on Project Syndicate, Harold James applies Machiavellian tradition of politics to financial reporting. Is it acceptable for governments and businesses to withhold or misreport their accounting, if all parties benefit in the long run? James uses Depression-era bank panics as an example; as banks in Germany and Austria were failing, the fascist-controlled press in Italy ignored the reality of the global financial situation. No banking panic occurred, the Italian banking system stayed afloat, and Italy experienced a much milder depression than its neighbors.
James is careful to expose economic situations where massaging the truth went awry, as well. A government that misreports its fiscal position can throw itself into ruin and inflict the global economy - think Mexico in 1994 or Greece in 2010. Free flow of information, he points out, is a cornerstone of a market economy.
So, is lying ever virtuous? Harold James comes to a fairly clear conclusion in this article. What do you think?
