Gregorio Guitián. PHOTO: Manuel Castells

Gregorio Guitián, economist and theologian at the University of Navarra, has published the book Negocios y moral. El dilema del camello y la aguja, in the collection 'Persona y Cultura'. In the volume, Professor Guitián deals simply and briefly with topics such as the criteria for morally evaluating business activity, how to invest ethically, evaluating whether a salary is fair, or the question of the financial aid to development and the external debt of poor countries, among others.

"We can always find examples of business initiatives guided by solid ethical principles that have not succeeded, and others that are a success. Profitability is influenced by many factors. What can be affirmed is that solid morals generate trust and, at Economics, trust is core topic," says the professor at School of Theology.

Experience," he adds, "shows that in business, as in so many other areas, what is built on injustice or lies, sooner or later, ends up falling apart".

Professor Guitián points out that the lack of ethics in business has been one of the factors that have triggered the crisis, but not the only one, because " Economics does not occur in a vacuum, but within a society, a culture, a vital approach," he says.

Revitalizing the culture of effort

In that sense, he points to another aspect that he considers common in many areas of society, not only at Economics. "There is a predominant mentality focused on the short term deadline, which seeks the solution to life's problems here and now, but does not take into account life as a whole, what comes after. When difficulties arise, there is a tendency to look for emergency solutions rather than real, perhaps more costly, solutions. In recent years, there has been a massive invitation to credit , which opens many doors of freedom, but also entails a responsibility," he explains.

Among the proposals to get out of the current recession, Professor Guitián suggests improving the human profile presented in business schools, but also making structural changes: "The financial system is very important because it has enormous repercussions. For example, if the aim is to revalue the culture of effort, of achievement in the medium and long term deadline, it would be worth rethinking the incentive system. The markets exert pressure in the very short term deadline, and this largely conditions the decisions of financial agents".

Gregorio Guitián is Professor of Economic Morality and Social Doctrine of the Church at the University of Navarra. His research field is the social morality and, particularly, the moral aspects of the Economics. He has published articles in scientific journals such as Journal of Business Ethics and Journal of Markets & Morality.