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Article
What's Wrong with Economics? It Ignores the Pogo Principle: "We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us"
The Journal of the History of Economic Thought (2011)
  • Jerry M Evensky, Syracuse University
Abstract

The piece begins with the proposition that the economic perspective on human activity must reflect the fact that human beings transact in a world defined for the actors by social norms. An analysis of the crisis of 2008 is offered as a demonstration of the value of adopting such a broader perspective. Part two offers a historical model based on Adam Smith’s Moral Philosophy of such a broader analysis. The piece closes with the case that the history of ideas offers alternative perspectives on the questions we explore in economics today and thus can serve as a valuable resource for constructive skepticism of the current discourse.

Keywords
  • Social Norms,
  • Ethics,
  • Adam Smith,
  • Crisis,
  • Recession,
  • History,
  • Distribution
Disciplines
Publication Date
June 21, 2011
Citation Information
Jerry M Evensky. "What's Wrong with Economics? It Ignores the Pogo Principle: "We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us"" The Journal of the History of Economic Thought (2011)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jerry_eversky/2/