Economies represent moral and political choices that vary across time and place. We are now witnessing the fraying of the political economic framework that guided action for decades and that created bases for social cohesion. With unravelling comes contestation of the values that undergird the framework and antagonism against those perceived as violating the social compact. Periodically, it is necessary to update the political economic framework, including its embedded moral economy. A moral economy refers to the extra-market reciprocal rights and obligations that link populations, organizations, and institutions that make up the society. It is about what constitutes legitimate behavior by government, employers, and citizens.
