Economics in the Future

First published in 1976. Economics has always been in a crisis since it broke away from social philosophy in the late eighteenth century. But from time to time this crisis has been particularly acute. Such was the case at the turn of the last century when the classical predictions proved less and less true and, in response, the marginalist schools emerged. Such also was the case at the beginning of the 1930s when the proof of the established harmony propounded in that theory was contradicted by the Great Depression, giving rise to the new macroeconomics pioneered by Keynes. doubt that contemporary economics is in a crisis, at least if crisis is defined as the inability to meet the challenge of the times. Problems like mass poverty, unbalanced affluence, increasing regional economic disparities, imbalances in population development, irrational disposition of non-renewable resources, and production and consumption processes ill-adjusted to the limited carrying capacity of the environment are among many pressing problems awaiting solution by economists. The purpose of this book is to bring together responses from leading economists to these problems. Given the vast subject matter, it is only to be expected that the specific emphasis given to various approaches differs among the authors.