Dualism - the division of an object of study into separate, paired elements - is widespread in economic and social theorising: key examples are the divisions between agency and structure, the individual and society, mind and body, values and facts, and knowledge and practice. In recent years,...

This paper aims to show that economic theory has become ‘desocialised’ and separated from social theory through the adoption of individualistic methods and neglect of social relations and structures. A historical overview traces how the social content of economic theory has diminished,...

Purpose – The assumption of free will in contemporary economics is an important starting point for socio-economic analysis in contrast to methodologies which assume that human action is pre-determined by forces beyond individual control. However, contemporary economic theory is devoid of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the rebuilding of the Gulf coast post-Hurricane Katrina. Design/methodology/approach – The paper posits that though Frédéric Bastiat passed away in 1850, the beauty of his sound economic reasoning is that it does not change over time and...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the havoc created by Hurricane Katrina from the viewpoint of Austrian Economics. The aim is to look specifically at the malinvested capital that came about because of the construction of the complex levee system around New Orleans....

Purpose – The aim of this article is to analyze and compare the share economy and the constitutional economy approaches. The fact that numerous world-class multinationals have chosen to offer stock options to managers and bonus share incentives to employees denotes a realization that any...

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze Emil Lederer's and Sumner Slichter's theses on the concept of technological unemployment. Design/methodology/approach – Given the presence of core elements of both economists' visions in the famous Debate on Technological Unemployment (1928-1933), it is...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the compatibility of Rawls's account of justice with neoclassical economic theory, upon which Rawls relies strongly. Design/methodology/approach – This question is approached via a comparison of the implicit account of society and social...

Purpose – The paper aims to show that economic theory has become “desocialised” and separated from social theory through the adoption of individualistic methods and neglect of social relations and structures. It also seeks to assess the upshot of these trends, as well as the prospects for...

The legacy of the last 50 years of development economics is not very inspiring. In the 1960s and 1970s, instead of looking at the real causes and viable solutions to poverty and underdevelopment, development economics was preoccupied with the politically-charged debate over the superiority of...