How economics abandoned time (to create a myopic culture)
We have squandered 80 years on a wrong conception of how our economy works. There is much to fix…
neoclassical economics
Can the World Get Along Without Natural Resources?
Contrary to the proclamations of neoclassical economists (like Robert Solow), the world cannot get along without natural resources. That this fact needs stating is a testament to the shallowness of economic theory.
Why the Distribution of Wealth has More to Do with Power than Productivity
How the fruits of wealth creation should be divided between capital, land and labour has been subject of considerable debate throughout history. In 1817, the economist David Ricardo described this as “the principal problem in political economy”.
The Climate Crisis as Seen by the Economics Mainstream
This is what a group of powerful people look like when they lose touch with reality. As we have already seen the techno-innovations that are supposed to mitigate climate change are largely granfalloons. The elite fantasy of growth combined with R&D and techno-innovation to resolve the climate crisis can do a lot of damage by diverting us from the reality of the catastrophe that humanity faces.
Mismodelling Human Beings – Rational Economic Man in Love, Politics and Everyday Life
Key to the conceptual confidence trick are assumptions about what people in general are like. It is all based on an implicit modelling of human beings. Certain types of behaviour (the type that allows economists to model people and markets) are called “rational”.
Economists as Priesthood – a Religion Based on Assumptions
The ideas of the economists are important because they frame the way we understand the world, sometimes distracting us from understanding and living in the world in other ways. The economists claim that they describe the world as it is, rather than describing it as it should be, but there is an entire value system implicit in economics.
Marginal Productivity Theory
Economists tell us how consumers on the market, “voting” with their purchasing power got what they wanted and wealthy landowners got the economic theory that they wanted.
Who are the Parasites? The Radical Implications of Classical Economics
Henry George and Karl Marx developed alternative radical theories out of the ideas of Adam Smith and David Ricardo.
Putting Moral Philosophy Back into Economics
But let us retrace our steps to consider what a lot of people are unaware of – economics was originally considered to be a branch of moral philosophy.
“Neoliberalism” is it?
A core principle of neoliberalism is that citizens are to be defined first and foremost as consumers.
The Attention Seeking Economy, Information and the Manufacture of Ignorance
To orientate to the world properly we need to have a proper feel for the huge amount of what we don’t know…
The Future History of Political Economy – Part 1
The power to create wealth gave Midas an unsustainable life as a complete solipsist. Oil’s power to create wealth has had a similar effect on Neoclassical economics.