economics as a science | Moral Markets?

The Challenge for a Future Economy that Promotes Human Flourishing Is Broadening What Economists Value

by Martijn de Vries | Apr 12, 2021 | economics as a science, well-being / human flourishing, climate change & sustainability

The neglect of economics’ inseparable philosophical and political foundation is problematic in itself already for a plentitude of reasons. To make matters worse, the evaluative framework that underpins mainstream economic thinking only allows for a particularly narrow class of considerations to enter the discussion of what constitutes the conditions for human flourishing. In this essay, I will address the limitations of this welfarist evaluative framework by building on the pioneering work of Amartya Sen.

Nominated essay in the category master students of the Future Markets Consultation essay contest

Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems – Book Review

by London School of Economics (LSE) Blogs | Nov 23, 2020 | book reviews, economics as a science

“In Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems, Nobel-Prize winning economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo carefully lay out evidence to provide a grounded approach to tackling today’s most pressing global problems. With a focus on alleviating inequality and poverty, Banerjee and Duflo’s book clears a path for more interdisciplinary work centred on improving citizens’ wellbeing and protecting human dignity, writes Shruti Patel.”

Economics in a Post-Pandemic World – Book Review

by Project Syndicate ("The World's Opinion Page") | Nov 20, 2020 | economics as a science, book reviews

“As the policy failures of recent decades have shown, navigating the intersection of economic theory and practice is never easy, especially when powerful and wealthy interests are involved. The task for economists, then, is to debate not just economics but political economy, and their own place in it.” A review of four recent books

Do Economists Understand Inequality?

by Ilse Oosterlaken (Moral Markets) | Oct 19, 2020 | inequality & justice, economics as a science, interviews

In this short video (2,5 minutes) economist François Bourguignon discusses whether and how economists understand inequality. He is one of our guests in tonight’s dialogue of the Future Markets Consultation, titled ‘Free Markets & Huge Inequality; An Inescapable Marriage?‘ Our other guest is philosopher Elisabeth Anderson.

Why Amartya Sen Remains the Century’s Great Critic of Capitalism

by Big Think ("Smarter Faster") | Oct 11, 2020 | economics as a science, critiquing / reinventing capitalism

“Critiques of capitalism come in two varieties. First, there is the moral or spiritual critique. […] Then there is the material critique of capitalism. […] But then there is Amartya Sen. […] In Sen’s work, the two critiques of capitalism cooperate. We move from moral concerns to material outcomes and back again with no sense of a threshold separating the two.”

The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes

by London School of Economics (LSE) Blogs | Sep 17, 2020 | book reviews, economics as a science, democracy, money

“In The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes, Zachary D. Carter offers a new intellectual biography tracing the life and legacy of the influential economist, which argues that in the years since Keynes’s death, Keynesian economics has been stripped of Keynesian thought. Weaving together a dazzling array of Keynes’s private letters, journalistic works and academic research, this accessible book may help to hasten Keynes’s revival, writes Stephen Paduano.”

Economics for Change – Livecast 14 Sept 6:30 PM CET

by Ilse Oosterlaken (Moral Markets) | Sep 14, 2020 | economics as a science

In this kick-off of a series of online dialogues with visionary economists we explore how economics is at the basis of incremental systematic change. How do the global financial and economic system, climate change, human consciousness and social security relate to one another? How do these systems interact and most importantly, how can we – without discarding capitalism in its entirety – transform them?

Epidemics, Economics, and Externalities

by Project Syndicate ("The World's Opinion Page") | Aug 27, 2020 | opinion & ideas, economics as a science

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the high costs that unchecked externalities – such as those resulting from people not wearing face masks – can impose on an economy and society. Economists must begin to examine how these costs can be reconciled with ordinary consumption.”

Moral Markets?

Towards an Economy of Human Flourishing

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