"Ethics is a vigorously contested field. There are many competing moral frameworks, and different views about how normative considerations should inform the art and craft of governmental policy making. What is not in dispute, however, is that ethics matters"-- "This edited volume brings together a selection of 12 papers that were originally delivered at a major conference - Ethical Foundations of Public Policy - in December 2009 in Wellington, New Zealand. The conference was co-hosted by the Institute of Policy Studies and the Philosophy Programme at Victoria University of Wellington, and the Centre for Theology and Public Issues at the University of Otago, and was sponsored by the School of Government Trust. The conference was very well attended with some 350 participants, of whom about 50 delivered papers. The purpose of the conference was to encourage and facilitate debate about the ethical basis for policy making. This includes, of course, the ethical principles that should inform our behaviour, whether as citizens, voters, policy analysts, or decision makers, as well as the normative considerations that should guide our choices over the substantive content of particular policies - whether fiscal policy, health policy, or foreign policy"--