1st Edition
Economics for Humanity Integrating Well-being, Community, and Practical Philosophy
Economics is often referred to as "the queen of social sciences." This is because mainstream economics has been established as an elegant academic discipline by assuming mankind simply to be homo economicus—an image of human beings showing interest in only material fulfilment and acting solely in his interest. This book challenges this basic perception of human beings.
By replacing it with a more realistic and multi-faceted human motive as supported by research in various academic disciplines, the book tries to provide a novel and more plausible picture of human society. Specifically, the book takes in such human aspects as pursuing wellbeing, forming human networks, and the realization of potential of ability. Thus, if we try to better understand human motives and the society, it becomes necessary to replace the conventional two-sector (market-government) social model with a more general and theoretically superior social model, the "three-sector model" consisting of market-government-nonprofit sectors. This book demonstrates the validity of this new view by utilizing basic principles of economic policy and social welfare analyses. Moreover, the book has introduced a newly developing practical philosophy in Japan over the last 50 years to achieve both individual wellbeing and better human society.
Introduction and Overview
I. Groundwork for Bettering Economics
1. Need for Economics to Fully Integrate Human Nature
2. Inheriting from Adam Smith: Ethics and Other Human Nature
3. Considering Humanity (1): Altruism
4. Considering Humanity (2): Social Networks
II. Overview of Economics of Humanity
5. Towards Economics for Humanity
6. Three-Sector Model of the Economy
7. Theoretical Bases of the Three-sector Model
III. Enriching Human Society: A Practical Philosophy
8. A Practical Philosophy for Well-being and Better Society ( I )
9. A Practical Philosophy for Well-being and Better Society ( II )
Biography
Mitsuaki Okabe is Professor Emeritus of Keio University, Japan.
“Pioneering work that usefully broadens our common understanding of Economics itself.”
Kent Calder, Director, Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies, Johns Hopkins University SAIS, USA
“Mainstream economics assumes, most of the time, man as homo economicus, which is very convenient to build up an elegant scientific discipline. Accordingly, economics is often praised as "queen of social sciences". But, if economics integrate more diverse human motives, we can expand the scope and the depth of mainstream economics toward more fruitful humane economics. This book rigorously and convincingly agues, probably for the first time in the literature, that this is the direction of economics to expand.”
Nobuhiro Suzuki, Professor, University of Tokyo, Japan
