Ética y economía: el caso del tercer sector

There are three sectors in society (market, governmentand ‘the third sector’ or ‘civil society’),each one of which has its proper role and function – andeach one of which has also its particular kind of failure. Upto now it has been the merit of economics to discoverand articulate the theories of ‘market failure’ (on whosebasis the welfare state has been built) and ‘governmentfailure’ (which has shown the limits of democracies andconstitutions). The time may have arrived to start thinkingabout ‘third sector failure’ – especially as all three failureshave an ethical dimension. Economics can help improvethe quality of our ethical thinking in relation to civil societyand the third sector by showing us that good intentionsare often not enough. For economic theory can provideus with the tools to analyze the long term effects of ourethical choices, and this not only in relation to this or thatparticular group of intended recipients, but in relation toall groups in society.