The end of economic man

"This is a book for businesspeople, poets, politicians, critics, engineers, scientists, lawyers, doctors, and plain citizens. Economists can learn from it. It introduces us to an essential aspect of life in a free society in which men and women are thinkers of their own thoughts, doers of their own deeds, and providers of their own sustenance." "It places economics firmly among the humanities. Like all the humanities, economics studies the doings of human beings with the aim of understanding mores, morals, and morale. In contrast, the Economic Man of traditional economics is selfishness incarnate. Most of the so-called laws of economics have been deduced from his consistently self-serving behavior, with the result that the discipline seems to be concerned solely with things - resources, the gross domestic product, the bottom line, some sort of equilibrium - rather than with human beings." "In any future economics, George Brockway proposes, this concern will be reversed. Human beings will be more important that things, and what Carlyle quite properly called the dismal science will take on a new and humane aspect." "Like the good life it celebrates, the book requires thought and stimulates thought, starting with the Prologue, "Life Is Unfair. Why Should We Care?" Throughout the book original theory is intertwined with practical example, as in the chapter titled "Why the Trade Deficit Won't Go Away." Completely rewritten, this edition (the fourth) covers almost forty percent more ground than earlier editions."--Jacket.

First sentence: Economics is the study of the principles whereby individuals and corporations of individuals and nations of individual exchange goods and services for money (and vice versa) in order to maintain and enhance the quality of human life.

Year

1991

Language

English

Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

Editions

2

Pages

416

ISBN

9780393050394

Data source: Wikidata