The Skeptical Economist ─ Revealing the Ethics Inside Economics

Within the field of economics, observes Aldred (economics, U. of Cambridge, UK), there are many who peddle a narrow or simplistic view of economics to serve vested interests and political ends. In addition to this group, there is a more naive set of economists who seek to avoid ethical judgments in the practice of their discipline. Both groups practice a form of "black box economics," in which basic assumed principles (e.g. "The value of life can be measured in monetary terms" and "Economic growth increases happiness") are obscured and rarely discussed. Insisting that ethics cannot be so neatly separated from economics and that these hidden principles should be matter of explicit debate, Aldred aims to uncover these hidden ethical assumptions and present them to the general reader in a manner free of mathematics and jargon. His discussion consists of stand-alone chapters examining issues of consumption, the nature of economic growth, the politics of pay, the economics of happiness, the valuation of life and nature, and issues of public services. Distributed in the US by Stylus Publishing. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Dr Jonathan Aldred is a Fellow and Director of Studies in Economics at Emmanuel College and a Newton Trust Lecturer in the Department of Land Economy, both in the University of Cambridge, UK. An economist by training, his research interests are now interdisciplinary, spanning economics, philosophy, law and political theory.