Corporate moralist John Dalla Costa, whose business is consulting with firms that want to be good corporate citizens, has produced an elegantly crafted book of advice on how they can do that. Drawing from a variety of experts on moral philosophy – from Jewish sage Martin Buber to Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Swiss theologian Hans Kung – Dalla Costa’s conclusion is that firms should practice a golden rule: Don’t do unto the planet what really should not be done, don’t exploit employees especially in Third World countries, etc.

Good advice, of course, but not entirely new. Two hundred years ago, Adam Smith generated economics from moral philosophy and resolved the dilemma that has plagued philosophers, mostly German, since then. To the question – if a person acts from selfish motives seeking profit, how can others benefit? – Smith invented his famous “invisible hand,” i.e., market forces that distribute benefit. Dalla Costa takes note of Smith’s attempt to balance selfishness and good deeds, and seeks to bring economics back to Smith’s roots in philosophy, a novel exercise at the end of the 20th century.

Dalla Costa thinks Smith’s rationale inadequate. Instead of being guided by market forces, corporations become worlds unto themselves and seek goals that benefit only their immediate constituents. From this observation, he reasons that “the exclusivity and self-perpetuation of group decision making is one reason the world and its economy now need a global ethic.”

Some of Dalla Costa’s advice is from the left, i.e., use increases in productivity to reduce the length of the work week and slow economic growth. A firm’s board of directors that did this would face a crumbling stock price and shareholder lawsuits. And what is wrong with rising productivity anyway? It’s why we are not subsistence farmers and have money for books.