FEATURED AUTHOR

John Komlos

Professor emeritus
University of Munich

Komlos argues that mainstream economists committed blunders of historical proportions by advocating tax cuts, hyperglobalization, and deregulation, which culminated in the Meltdown of 2008 and generated an unbearable level of inequality. He introduces a new paradigm of humanistic economics with an inclusive economy and a thriving population. This is Capitalism with a Human Face with a high quality of life, which minimizes stress, anxiety, inequality, insecurity, pain, poverty, and unemployment.

Subjects: Economics, Finance, Business & Industry

Biography

John Komlos is Professor Emeritus of Economics and of Economic History, University of Munich. He also taught as a visitor at Harvard, Duke University, University of North Carolina, as well as in Vienna and St. Gallen (Switzerland). Born in Hungary during the last days of World War II, he became a refugee twelve years later during the famous uprising there and grew up in Chicago where he received PhDs in both history and in economics from the University of Chicago. His mentor was the Nobel-Prize winning economist Robert Fogel. He became a humanistic economist realizing that conventional economics does not reflect well the way the real economy functions. Since the financial crisis of 2008 he has been writing about current economic issues from a humanistic perspective. His textbook, Foundations of Real-World Economics (2023), advocates for a “Capitalism with a Human Face”. Humanism means that the economy should work for everyone not only for the select few and the goal of economic policy should be to improve life satisfaction rather than to increase output. The book has been translated into five languages. It implies that a kinder and more just capitalism is possible, embedded in a truly democratic society that enables people to live a more dignified life with less uncertainty, less manipulation, less stress, less often being taken advantage of, less conflict, and less fear that their lives could spiral out of control during the next recession.