Human Nature in Modern Economics offers a precise definition of the concept of human nature in economics, something that is so far lacking in the theoretical and methodological literature. This book develops tools for the analysis of human nature through the construction of the author’s meta-model – based on anthropological and psychological foundations – allowing for comparisons of anthropological assumptions made in economic theories. The model demonstrates that the normative functions of human nature may affect the economic reality. The chapters argue that the concept of human nature determines our thinking about the economy and economics, including fundamental methodologies, methods and theories. Thus, the differences between various economic schools may result from the different assumptions of these schools about human nature. Those evolving views of human nature proceed to explain the development of both orthodox (mainstream) and heterodox economics. The book marks a significant addition to the literature on the history of economic thought, heterodox economics, economic theory and economic methodology. For students, it is a supplement to standard textbooks as it explains the current state of economics, especially in its heterodox branches. It will allow scholars to discover the importance of what they assume about human nature and how it may influence their research process.

Emotions, feelings and morality play a critical role in our daily decision-making. With the rapid advance of industry and technology, however, this subjective information is becoming less valued in critical decisions. Rational thought and the accumulation of objective knowledge are often credited with humanity's thriving success in recent centuries. This book makes the case that humanity's social progress has only been possible through these too often repressed subjective factors, and will be equally crucial in altering the present course of society.

This open access book examines from a variety of perspectives the disappearance of moral content and ethical judgment from the models employed in the formulation of modern economic theory, and some of the papers contain important proposals about how moral judgment could be reintroduced in economic theory. The chapters collected in this volume result from the favorable reception of the first volume of the Virtues in Economics series and represent further contributions to the themes set out in that volume: (i) examining the philosophical and methodological fallacies of this turn in modern economic theory that the removal of the moral motivation of economic agents from modern economic theory has entailed; and (ii) proposing a return descriptive economics as the means with which the moral content of economic life could be restored in economic theory. This book is of interest to researchers and students of the methodology of economics, ethics, philosophers concerned with agency and economists who build economic models that rest in the intention of the agent.

This one-stop reference book on the vital relationship between Scripture and ethics offers needed orientation and perspective for students, pastors, and scholars. Written to respond to the movement among biblical scholars and ethicists to recover the Bible for moral formation, it is the best reference work available on the intersection of these two fields. The volume shows how Christian Scripture and Christian ethics are necessarily intertwined and offers up-to-date treatment of five hundred biblical, traditional, and contemporary topics, ranging from adultery, bioethics, and Colossians to vegetarianism, work, and Zephaniah. The stellar ecumenical list of contributors consists of more than two hundred leading scholars from the fields of biblical studies and ethics, including Darrell Bock, David Gushee, Amy Laura Hall, Daniel Harrington, Dennis Olson, Christine Pohl, Glen Stassen, and Max Stackhouse.

Leading international scholars challenge neoliberalism on its assumptions, way of reasoning and empirical evidence. In particular, they discuss critically, from the standpoint of radical perspectives, the issues of limiting the state and privatization, inflation and unemployment, and the possibility of a socialist society. They also discuss the current project for the monetary and economic union (EMU) of Europe, considered as an application of neoliberalism. They assess and question the internal market, the common currency and central bank independence; and investigate alternatives to the EMU project and the marketization agenda.

Scholars from around the globe and across faith traditions consider the impact of Christianity on the regulation of markets and economic systems.

The last ten years have seen an extraordinary transformation in how business has to account for itself. Today, the air is thick with the buzz of corporate responsibility (CR) leaders, innovators and practitioners. Conferences and publications on the topic are in abundance: the tip of an iceberg that has become a fast-growth industry. Many of those companies and service providers most vocal in distancing themselves from early experimentation have proved the strongest advocates of sustainability reporting, often winning applause and coveted awards in the process. Even companies from controversial sectors such as alcohol, cigarettes and gambling have joined the party – running up bills of tens of millions of dollars in demonstrating their new-found faith for CR. It has not always been like this. As one of the architects of the burgeoning CR movement, Simon Zadek has always been a prolific writer and contributor of ideas. The evolution of his thoughts on new economics, corporate accountability, stakeholder dialogue, social and ethical auditing and reporting have attracted consistent attention – never more than today. In this unique anthology, Zadek crystallises his key work from the last decade into a coherent and fascinating whole, which, read together, provide a context, lens and early history lesson on how CR has become one of the defining business issues of the 21st century. The writings reflect Zadek's involvement with organisations such as the New Economics Foundation, a pioneer in the development of social auditing, sustainability indicators, community finance and much more. They illustrate his contribution in setting up the Ethical Trading Initiative, and AccountAbility (where he is presently the CEO), in working with companies such as The Body Shop and Ben & Jerry's through to Nike, BT and many other civil-society organisations. The book contains 33 pieces, which are split into six sections: "The Economics of Utopia"; "Civil Society, Power and Accountability"; "Accounting for Change"; "The Civil Corporation"; "Partnership Alchemy"; and "Responsible Competitiveness". It will be an invaluable resource for anyone wishing develop an understanding of why corporate responsibility is where it is today and where it might end up tomorrow.

This book confronts the failings of current global economics to deliver the equity, sustainability and community empowerment which humanity now needs to handle a troubled future. The volume proposes an economy built from our society, not the other way around. The Kyoto Manifesto was built, layer by layer, over a period of 4 years, based on broad-ranging international symposia held in Kyoto between 2014 and 2017, hosted by the Center for the Creative Economy, Doshisha University. Not stopping at theory and untested ideas however, the Manifesto proposes practical action that will make a difference, including in the problematic technological and ecological context of humanity’s immediate and long-term future. The book is unique and innovative for it moves adventurously across very broad territory. The Manifesto draws from world philosophic arguments, including, specifically, a critique of “liberalism”, further, exploring sociology, cultural anthropology, politics, primatology and early humanity, even quantum physics. Argument is set within mainstream post-1972 economics and political economics as well as direct practical experience working to empower disadvantaged communities through the United Nations. Most importantly, the book’s analysis is deeply informed by the practice of searching for what is “sacred”, the ultimate essence of our humanity, what we can be as a human race—empowered, fulfilled individuals, deeply sharing and caring for each other across our separate cultures and lives. Stomu Yamash’ta’s On Zen performances, set the context for the Symposia, bringing different religions and cultures together across their dividing boundaries into a coherent search for peace and harmony through sacred music. Informed by alternate cultural paradigms for economics, the book probes deeply into philosophies and practices that already exist within Eastern and Western societies, and offer lessons for our future. The result is an economics that stresses harmony with nature, and balance in social relations. It places an emphasis on community—human sharing and trust—as a platform for our future, not separate from the global economy but integrated into its very foundations. This is a book for all who care: a plan for our sustainable future built from the best of what our humanity is and can offer.

Economics has become a monolithic science, variously described as formalistic and autistic with neoclassical orthodoxy reigning supreme. So argue Dimitris Milonakis and Ben Fine in this new major work of critical recollection. The authors show how economics was once rich, diverse, multidimensional and pluralistic, and unravel the processes that lead to orthodoxy’s current predicament. The book details how political economy became economics through the desocialisation and the dehistoricisation of the dismal science, accompanied by the separation of economics from the other social sciences, especially economic history and sociology. It is argued that recent attempts from within economics to address the social and the historical have failed to acknowledge long standing debates amongst economists, historians and other social scientists. This has resulted in an impoverished historical and social content within mainstream economics. The book ranges over the shifting role of the historical and the social in economic theory, the shifting boundaries between the economic and the non-economic, all within a methodological context. Schools of thought and individuals, that have been neglected or marginalised, are treated in full, including classical political economy and Marx, the German and British historical schools, American institutionalism, Weber and Schumpeter and their programme of Socialökonomik, and the Austrian school. At the same time, developments within the mainstream tradition from marginalism through Marshall and Keynes to general equilibrium theory are also scrutinised, and the clashes between the various camps from the famous Methodenstreit to the fierce debates of the 1930s and beyond brought to the fore. The prime rationale underpinning this account drawn from the past is to put the case for political economy back on the agenda. This is done by treating economics as a social science once again, rather than as a positive science, as has been the inclination since the time of Jevons and Walras. It involves transcending the boundaries of the social sciences, but in a particular way that is in exactly the opposite direction now being taken by "economics imperialism". Drawing on the rich traditions of the past, the reintroduction and full incorporation of the social and the historical into the main corpus of political economy will be possible in the future.