EDIT: Deleted response (simpleflyer withdrew his question).
No hard feelings - just giving my honest assessment, simpleflyer - I didn't really feel you were criticizing, but I honestly feel that what you presented as a problem, is merely a POTENTIAL problem, and based upon the situation you presented, was making too many unfounded assumptions -
Also, that's what FT is for, to debate things on your mind. Maybe you are a bit hyper-sensitive to this particular issue, but I'm certainly not, and have no problem discussing those things on this forum, if someone else is so inclined. In fact, I often bring up books I've read to support my position on controversial issues, so that's entirely fair.
That's all...
EDIT: Actually, let me add one more thing, since you are interested in the effect of morality on efficiency. I do indeed see your point. It makes sense. But I think the cause-effect hypothesis you present makes a large leap of faith from how it views people and how people actually are, and there are too many "soft" variables involved in the process of efficiency when you talk about people and how they behave and its effect on efficiency.
Also, let me give you a real story: I was acquainted with a girl in high school who was brought up in a very traditional, Protestant household. Her personal ethics were VERY high. She once got a job in a video rental shop. They rented adult videos. She did not like renting adult videos to customers - it made her feel dirty - but she needed the money. She eventually quit, and I don't believe she had another job. In this case, we can see that despite her employer encouraging to break her own personal ethics, she did so at an unacceptable personal cost, and left her job, leaving her employer to have to find another employee, leading to all sorts of other costs. So in this case, yes, your hypothesis works. But only because she went through a decision-making process, and took action based upon her own internal ethics, without listening to what her employer wanted.
[This message has been edited by anonplz (edited 08-17-2002).]