| Why is the goal of economics growth in production of goods and services, instead of growth in the health of persons in communities? There is a long history of the basic assumptions and value choices which have become embedded in neoclassical economics, the economic theory of capitalism. Since Adam Smith the central value of both capitalism and Marxism has been economic growth. Smith also chose labor instead of land as the source of value, and Enlightenment individualism for his anthropology, which was refined in economic theory--first into the "wealth-maximizer" of John Stuart Mill, and later via the marginalists into rational individual choice in the market. David Ricardo added the fourth crucial choice, deductive method.; The historical development of economics, especially crucial value choices and foundational assumptions, is traced in the dissertation through some of the most influential economists: Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, the marginalists and Alfred Marshall, and, for the twentieth century, John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman. The contributions of each economist are examined for constructive and problematic consequences.; The dissertation shows how growth, individualism, the labor theory of value, and deductive method combined powerfully in an effective, but highly selective, economics, that became blind to numerous social-cultural effects, including destructive impacts on communities and nature. Marxian economics is just as blind, and the choices offered have contributed to untenable dualisms, especially between freedom and social equity, and between individuals and societies.; At the same time, promising elements in each economist's work, that were neglected in the quest for clarity of method, are brought forward and provide the basis of proposals for transforming economics to move beyond the old either-or choices of capitalism and Marxism. These include proposals that the goal of economics should be health rather than growth, that economics needs an anthropology of "persons-in-community," needs to be historical-critical as well as deductive, and should learn from living natural systems instead of Newtonian mechanics. Finally, the underlying theological-philosophical foundation of nominalism/voluntarism should be replaced with a process/relational ontology. |
