Thomas Aquinas on the conduct of sales

摘要

In the Summa theologiae, Thomas Aquinas treated the conduct of sales. Aquinas took into consideration writings on the subject in the Bible, Antiquity, and early Christianity. Aquinas differentiated between selling and mis-selling; showed that sales intermediation was an integral component of an economy; and concluded that salespeople were entitled to earn profit. Aquinas overturned a consensus that had obtained in Stoicism and early Christianity regarding duties to disclose private information on volatility of price. Aquinian disposition of the sales process anticipated the economics of information asymmetry.