Some examples of human behavior which seem paradoxical or irrational in view of the utility maximization principle can be explained as rational if we distinguish between two types of utility. The first type is the conventional utility – cardinal or ordinal – which the rational economic...

A free market economy is characterized by an unequal distribution of income, wealth, and opportunities, to the extent that a considerable part of the population does not enjoy the wellbeing which an affluent society can offer. Recent studies have shown that excessive inequality is bad not only...

Most of the population in the Western world lives in prosperous societies today. However, Economics, according to its traditional definition, deals with allocation of resources in conditions of scarcity. Since the pressing problems nowadays are associated with abundance rather than with...

Competition and struggle seem to be central features of economic theory and vital elements of a functioning free market. However, cooperation and solidarity are vital to the economy as well, and in a prosperous society, cooperation might often be more efficient than competition. Hence the idea...

Crises are integral part of economic history. Analysis of economic crises, from the tulip mania in the 17th century to the 2008 crisis, reveals that in prosperous societies most of the crises are associated not with a shortage of resources but rather with abundance. These crises are instigated...

"The classical economic theory fails to truly describe the economies of prosperous societies. This is because traditional economics deals with the allocation of resources in conditions of shortage, while the urgent economic problems of a prosperous society are mainly associated with conditions...