The end of economic man : an introduction to humanistic economics / George P. Brockway.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brockway, George P.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economics.

Economic man.

Supply and demand.

United States--Economic conditions.

United States.

Economic conditions.

Physical Description:

479 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

Fourth edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Norton, [2001]

Summary:

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 than 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.

Contents:

Prologue: Life Is Unfair. Why Should We Care? 15

Part I Why We Have Economics

1 In the Beginning Is the Act 21

2 Why Economics Is Value Bound 29

3 Responsibility and Greed 42

Part II Principles of any Future Economics

4 Money: The Distinguishing Mark of Economics 65

5 The Primacy of Price in Economics 97

6 The Primacy of Labor in Life 118

7 The Corporation and the Entitlement of Labor 143

8 Competition and Diminishing Returns 171

9 Goods and Services 190

10 Marginal Utility 203

11 Saving and Investing 218

Part III Modernist Economics and Its Discontents

12 Micro, Macro, and Society 239

13 Money and Bankers 251

14 Speculation 278

15 International Trade 294

16 The "Law" of Comparative Advantage 329

17 General Equilibrium 337

18 Productivity vs. Profitability 355

19 The "Real Interest" Fallacy and the Fed's COLA 362

20 Inflation and Recession 375

21 The Death of NAIRU 392

Part IV Prospect

22 A Few Notes on the "New Economy" 407

23 A Few Notes on the "New Finance" 413

24 Why the Trade Deficit Won't Go Away 421

25 On Being Fully Human 427

Epilogue: We Are All Ends in Ourselves 441

Appendix Some Propositions Old and New 453.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 443-452) and index.

ISBN:

0393050394

OCLC:

44732397