The Skeptical Economist Revealing the Ethics Inside Economics [Paperback]

Economics is unavoidably central to any attempt to improve our quality of life, but most people do not know why, or how to question its underlying assumptions.The Skeptical Economistrejects the story told by other popular economics books. Responding to Western malaise about quality of life, and a growing curiosity about economics and its relevance to these concerns, Jonathan Aldred argues that economics is not an agreed body of knowledge or an objective science. In reality economics is built on ethical foundations - distinctive and controversial views about how we ought to live, what we value and why. This revealing and entertaining book exposes these hidden assumptions, and opens up the black box of modern economics to reveal that conventional wisdom is not what it appears to be. The Skeptical Economist will challenge us all to examine the assumptions behind the economics of our current way of life. It rediscovers the ethics at the heart of economics.Acknowledgements  1. Introduction: Ethical Economics?  2. The Sovereign Consumer  3. Two Myths about Economic Growth  4. The Politics of Pay  5. Happiness  6. Pricing Life and Nature  7. New Worlds of Money: Public Services and Beyond  8. Conclusion

'Aldred has written a well-organized and easily accessible text with an admirable capacity to build arguments across the various chapters. It continuously stimulates reflection. It is moreover an important text about some very important issues. I learned a lot, and I am sure the readers of Ecological Economics will too.'Arild Vatn, Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences. 

'An astonishingly good book. It takes the mainstream economic views on which the likes of Freakonomics are based and makes a very convincing case for why they may be wrong.'