Thomas Beschorner, DAAD Professor at the Centre canadien d’études allemandes et européennes, Université de Montréal and research director of CSR NEWS, analyzes the current financial crisis from an ethical point of view. First, he argues that the origin of the financial crises is not merely and not mainly an economic crisis but a crisis of confidence. Second, Professor Beschorner demonstrates that (privately owned) corporations can be seen as quasi-public organizations with responsibilities that go beyond pure profit maximization. Here, he regards the incentive structures within banks as a source of mismanagement and, thus, as an important factor in the current situation. Watch the video if you want to know why good capitalism is like good soccer.

This video is part of an initiative “The European response to the financial crisis” of GermanStudies.ca. Other videos of this series are available here.