Redeeming Economics

by Mueller, John D.

• ISBN13: 9781932236941
• ISBN10: 1932236945
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-10-18
• Publisher: Isi Books

Summary

Our best economist thus far has been Augustine. This, in effect, is the argument of John D. Mueller's contrarian and groundbreaking Redeeming Economics, which posits that economic theory has since Adam Smith mistakenly discarded from its analyses basic elements of economic behavior. Through numerous examples and arguments, Mueller argues for the renewal of a "neoscholastic" economics that not only incorporates a theory of personal, social and political gifts, but also recognizes Augustine's "divine trace of equity" as a key source of market order.

Author Biography

John D. Mueller is a Fellow and Director of the Economics and Ethics Program of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is also president of LBMC LLC, a Washington, D.C., firm specializing in economic and financial-market forecasting and economic policy analysis. From 1979 through 1988, Mueller was economist and speechwriter to Congressman Jack Kemp. He has advised many American and foreign economic policymakers on monetary policy and exchange rates, unemployment, and income-tax, welfare, and Social Security systems. His articles have been published in periodicals ranging from the Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard, and Washington Post to the Harvard Business Review, Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy, and the Chesterton Review.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Rediscovering the Missing Element in Economics	p. 1
The Birth, Death, and Resurrection of Economics
Smithology and Its Discontents	p. 11
Scholastic Economics (c. 1250-1776)	p. 17
Classical Economics (1776-1871)	p. 49
Neoclassical Economics (1871-c. 2000)	p. 77
Neo-Scholastic Economics (c. 2000-)	p. 107
Personal Economy
The ôMother's Problemö and Augustine's Solution	p. 133
The Success and Failure of Neoclassical Economics	p. 155
An Empirical Test: Fatherhood and Homicide	p. 175
The Moral Implications of Scarcity: The Good Samaritan Paradigm	p. 189
Domestic Economy
Marriage, the ôFirst Natural Bond of Human Societyö	p. 203
Why Do Parents Give Children ôExistence, Rearing, and Instructionö?	p. 231
How Neo-Scholastic Economics Explains Our Life Earnings and Spending	p. 245
Political Economy
Saving America's Infant Industry	p. 275
The Theory of American Public Choice	p. 283
Injustice in Exchange: Unemployment	p. 303
Injustice in Exchange: Inflation	p. 327
Divine Economy
The Three Worldviews	p. 355
Notes	p. 367
Acknowledgments	p. 451
Index	p. 453
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