Journal of Economic Literature - Book Review

Redeeming Economics: Rediscovering the Missing Element by John D. Mueller

Published By: Culture of Enterprise series. Wilmington, Del.: Intercollegiate Studies Institute
ISBN: 978-1-932236-94-1
Date of Publication: 2010

David Colander of Middlebury College reviews "Redeeming Economics: Rediscovering the Missing Element" by John D. Mueller. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins "Considers a neo-Scholastic view on economics that restores the Scholastic elements of consumption and final distribution to the field after their elimination in Adam Smith's theory of economics. Discusses Smithology and its discontents; scholastic economics, c. 1250-1776; classical economics, 1776-1871; neoclassical economics, 1871-c. 2000; neo-Scholastic economics, c. 2000 and beyond; the "mother's problem" and St. Augustine's solution; the success and failure of neoclassical economics; an empirical test--fatherhood and homicide; the moral implications of scarcity--the good Samaritan paradigm; marriage, the "first natural bond of human society"; why parents give children "existence, rearing, and instruction"; how neo-Scholastic economics explains our life earnings and spending; saving America's infant industry; the theory of American public choice; injustice in exchange--unemployment; injustice in exchange--inflation; and the three worldviews. Mueller is Director of the Economics and Ethics Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and President of LBMC LLC. Index."

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David Colander of Middlebury College

A13: Relation of Economics to Social Values
B11: History of Thought: Preclassical (Ancient, Medieval, Mercantilist, Physiocratic)
B12: History of Thought: Classical (includes Adam Smith)