Economics
for Humans
Julie A. Nelson
Cloth, $16.00
The University of Chicago Press, 2006
“Can be read for pleasure and enlightenment by economists and non-economists alike.”— The Times Literary Supplement
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from University of Chicago Press
Summary:
Is it asking too much to demand that businesses be
socially and environmentally responsible? When child
care and elder care are commercially supplied, is
caring turned into just another commodity? Many, believing
that economies are cold and heartless systems that
operate outside human control, would answer yes. But
in this impassioned and perceptive work, Julie A.
Nelson debunks theories that teach us that our economic
lives are somehow separate from our moral values and
our human relationships.
The impediment to envisioning a more
considerate economic world, Nelson demonstrates, is
a particular assumption that is shared by both neoliberals
and the Left. Despite their seemingly insurmountable
differences, they both make use of the metaphor, first
proposed by Adam Smith, of “the economy as machine.”
This pervasive idea, she argues, has blinded us to
the qualities that make us work and care for one another—qualities
that also make businesses thrive and markets grow.
We can wed our interest in money with our
justifiable concerns about ethics and social well-being.
And we can do so if we recognize that an economy is
not a machine, but a living, beating heart that—when
healthy—circulates blood to all parts of the
social body while also serving as the seat of compassion
and care.
Nothing less than a manifesto, Economics
for Humans will both invigorate and inspire readers
to rethink the way they view the economy, its possibilities,
and their place within it.
Reviews:
"Have you ever wondered how to square the love and affection you feel for others, with the brutal 'self interest' that seems to pervade economic logic? Nelson's concise arguments will help any student of business who has been force fed the line that all business is just self-interested economic reasoning…This is a beautifully written book that can be read by anyone in under 2 hours. It should be assigned reading in every MBA program in the world…It is a terrific contribution from a first rate thinker (and economist)."
—R. Edward Freeman, author of Managing for Stakeholders: Survival, Reputation and Success
“A stunning rebuke of conventional
assumptions that describe our economic system as a
robot-like machine. In this deeply intelligent and
personally engaging book, Julie Nelson emphasizes
the tremendous influence of ethics and emotions on
economic outcomes. She challenges both the Left and
the Right to think more creatively about the relationship
between love and money. Everyone who studies care—or
cares about social science—should read this
book.”
— Nancy Folbre, author of The Invisible Heart:
Economics and Family Values
“Economics, as it is often taught
today, portrays us as homo economicus—someone
who doesn’t vote in presidential elections,
doesn’t return lost wallets, and doesn’t
leave tips when dining out of town. Julie Nelson reminds
us that most people aren’t really like that.
She helps point the way to a richer, more descriptive
way of thinking about economic life.”
— Robert H. Frank, author of Luxury Fever: Money
and Happiness in an Era of Excess
“Julie Nelson cares. She cares
enough about her home discipline, economics, to demand
that it jettison the crippling assumption that the
economy is a clockwork machine. She cares enough about
people to insist that we recognize the full range
of our economically valuable activities, from the
unpaid provision of personal care to the ethical management
of corporations. In this sparkling, passionate, personal
book Nelson shows how to humanize economics without
abandoning its commitment to rigorous description
and explanation.”
— Viviana A. Zelizer, author of The Purchase
of Intimacy
“Abandonment of the concept of the economy as an inhuman organism devoid of moral content could open the way to a more enlightened approach, rejecting a faith in mechanical laws...[A] passionate [book], to be welcomed in a discipline notably devoid of passion...Can be read for pleasure and enlightenment by economists and non-economists alike.”
— David Throsby, The Times Literary Supplement
“Julie A. Nelson...has no time for the old model of the economy as an impersonal, inexorable, market machine. The self-interests of the shareholders-first crowd, she insists in this lively and yet gentle polemic, do not inevitably convert to the general good ...Clarity and brevity are her book's greatest strengths—almost unheard-of virtues when economics is the subject, if we omit the occasional J. K. Galbraith...”
— John Allemang, The Globe and Mail
“Books attacking greedy, rapacious corporations and the supposed evils of capitalism proliferate. In general, such diatribes are not worth the paper they are printed on ...Nelson is far too intelligent for this sort of argument...The book provides detailed descriptions of the sheer variety of motivation, both corporate and individual, and institutional rules and structures that exist in the business world. Nelson's book can be recommended to a business audience.”
— Paul Ormerod, Worldbusinesslive.com
“A library would require many shelves to store all the books faulting economic theory as well as the market for failing to take humanistic considerations into account. Nelson's Economics for Humans might appear to fall into this category, but her volume is far more interesting. In a clear and even welcoming style, she lays out some of the shortcomings of economics in the market economy, but she is unique in the way she tries to show linkages in the demands of everyday economic life and the need for a more caring society--in her words, 'keeping body and soul together.' …Libraries will find a wide range of readers for this book. Even open-minded professional economists will find freshness in Nelson's treatment of the subject, while people largely unacquainted with economics--not just the mythical advanced undergraduate--will find this book accessible. Summing Up: Highly recommended”
— Michael Perelman, Choice
ISBN: 0-226-57202-1
Julie
A. Nelson is an economist and senior research
associate at the Global Development and Environmental
Institute at Tufts University.
