This book could be called "The Intelligent Person's Guide to
Economics." Like Robert Heilbroner's "The Worldly Philosophers," it
attempts to explain the core ideas of the great economists,
beginning with Adam Smith and ending with Joseph Schumpeter. In
between are chapters on Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, Karl Marx,
the marginalists, John Maynard Keynes, Friedrich Hayek, and
Thorstein Veblen. The title expresses Duncan Foley's belief that
economics at its most abstract and interesting level is a
speculative philosophical discourse, not a deductive or inductive
science. Adam's fallacy is the attempt to separate the economic
sphere of life, in which the pursuit of self-interest is led by the
invisible hand of the market to a socially beneficial outcome, from
the rest of social life, in which the pursuit of self-interest is
morally problematic and has to be weighed against other ends.
Smith and his successors argued that the market and the division
of labor that is fostered by it result in tremendous gains in
productivity, which lead to a higher standard of living. Yet the
market does not address the problem of distribution--that is, how
is the gain in wealth to be divided among the classes and members
of society? Nor does it address such problems as the long-run
well-being of the planet.
"Adam's Fallacy" is beautifully written and contains
interesting observations and insights on almost every page. It will
engage the reader's thoughts and feelings on the deepest level.
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