Mendoza School of Business

James Otteson

John T. Ryan Jr. Professor of Business Ethics; Honors Program Faculty Director; Concurrent Professor of Political Science
Business Ethics and Society
 574-631-9127
  286 Mendoza College of Business
  • Biography
  • Background
  • Publications
  • Books
  • Presentations
  • Awards
  • Media

James R. Otteson received his BA from the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame and his PhD in philosophy from the University of Chicago. He specializes in business ethics, political economy, the history of economic thought, and eighteenth-century moral philosophy. He has taught previously at Wake Forest University, New York University, Yeshiva University, Georgetown University, and the University of Alabama. His books include Adam Smith’s Marketplace of Life (Cambridge, 2002), Actual Ethics (Cambridge, 2006), Adam Smith (Bloomsbury, 2013), The End of Socialism (Cambridge, 2014), The Essential Adam Smith (Fraser Institute, 2018), and Honorable Business: A Framework for Business in a Just and Humane Society (Oxford, 2019). His most recent books are The Essential David Hume (Fraser, 2021) and Seven Deadly Economic Sins (Cambridge, 2021). His just-released book is Should Wealth Be Redistributed? A Debate (with Steven McMullen; Routledge, 2023).

Education
Ph D, University of Chicago
MA, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
BA, University of Notre Dame

Teaching
"Why Business?"


"Adam Smith on Public Provision of Education", Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 45, 2023

"How Have Corporate Codes of Ethics Responded to an Era of Increased Scrutiny?", (With Tim Loughran, Bill McDonald), Journal of Business Ethics, 183, 2023

"Democracy and People Over Profit", Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, 18



"Opting Out: A Defense of Social Justice", The Independent Review, 24, 2019

"The Misuse of Egalitarianism in Society", The Independent Review, 22, 2017


"Adam Smith and Virtuous Business", Cambridge University Press, 2023

"Adam Smith on Government versus Private Provision of 'Publick Works'", Oxford University Press, Oxford Handbook of Private Enterprise - Accepted (awaiting publication)

"Introduction to Socialism and Capitalism", Realities of Socialism, 2023

"Should Wealth Be Distributed? A Debate", (With Steven McMullen), Routledge, 2023

"Adam Smith on the Dangers of the Digital World", Routledge, 2022

"The Essential David Hume", Fraser Institute, 2021



"The Essential Adam Smith", Fraser Institute, 2018

"The End of Socialism", Cambridge University Press, 2014

"What Adam Smith Knew", Encounter, 2014

"Adam Smith", Bloomsbury, 2013

"Actual Ethics", Cambridge University Press, 2006

"Adam Smith's Marketplace of Life", Cambridge University Press, 2002

"A Business Ethics Challenge", 30th International Vincentian Business Ethics Conference, 2023

"Honorable Business", Center for the Study of Economic Liberty, Arizona State University, 2021

"The Morality of Markets", Bethel University, 2021

"Two of the Seven Deadly Economic Sins", Cambridge Fest, Cambridge University Press, 2021

"Honorable Business", The Adam Smith Society, 2021

Award
"Favorite Business Professor of the Class of 2020", Poets & Quants, 2020