We know what ethical failure costs – look at the billions of dollars paid by financial institutions in penalties and customer remediation since Hayne. But what are the economic benefits of ethical best practice? What can we gain economically by being more ethical as a nation?
Turning around the loss of trust in government, corporations and institutions could deliver Australians significant economic and social dividends. The Ethical Advantage’s exclusive new economic modelling by Deloitte Access Economics shows that if our leaders, businesses, institutions and everyday Australians made more ethical decisions, our GDP, wages, corporate returns and mental health would improve.
For the first time, the report quantifies the benefits of ethics for individuals and for the nation. An increase in ethical behaviour could raise Australians’ average income by $1,800 a year, lifting GDP by $45 billion. An increase in a company’s performance based on ethical perceptions can increase return on assets by about 7%. The modelling also reveals a host of individual and collective benefits for Australians across wages, trust and mental health.
The report also identifies five interlinked areas for improvement for Australia and its approach to ethics, supported by 30 individual initiatives. Download a copy to learn more.
Comments
4 responses to “The ethical advantage: the economic and social benefits of ethics to Australia (The Ethics Centre Oct 2020)”
I’m sceptical about the alleged economic benefits of being ethical. Perhaps that’s true, but it seems more likely that being ethical is orthogonal to economic outcomes. Being ethical is neither good nor bad for our economic wellbeing.
We seek to be ethical because we value being ethical independently of its economic effects. Arguing that we benefit economically from being ethical is needlessly distracting.
Let’s scrutinise our goals and values, and live worthily.
It doesn’t seem that many politicians actually do ethics, so we may have to wait a long time for any beneficial effects.
I wonder if Deloitte would like to comment on the ethics of the “Big Four” – Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG – helping multinational companies siphon profits to overseas ‘low tax environments’, thus depriving Australian consolidated revenue of billions of dollars? How about the ethics of failing to ensure that the companies they audit actually comply with the Australian Audit Standards Board standards?
Ethics ya say? …..
I’m with Kafka …I say art forms, made from a few basic animal instincts.
Still; we wouldn’t want to close down The University Of Stuffórlelse To Do.