Religious Influences on Economic Thinking - The Origins of Modern Economics

How religious thinking was—and remains—a central influence shaping economics.

The conventional view of economics is that the field was a product of the Enlightenment and, therefore, bore no relation to religious ideas. But is this true? In
Friedman explains that the influence of religious thinking on modern economic thought at the field’s inception established resonances that have persisted through the subsequent centuries, even as the economic context has evolved and the questions economists ask have shifted along with it. Because we are largely not conscious of these influences, neither in the past nor as they are at work today, we are sometimes puzzled when we stumble across evidence of them—for example, in the otherwise hard-to-explain attitudes that many of our fellow citizens express on issues like estate taxes, business regulation, and environmental restrictions. But they are still at work. Understanding them can only enhance the economics profession’s capacity to contribute to our ongoing public discussion of the important questions on which the discipline so usefully bears.

Product details

• Authors: Benjamin M Friedman, Benjamin M. Friedman, Friedman Benjamin M.
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 06.08.2024
• EAN: 9780262548786
• ISBN: 978-0-262-54878-6
• No. of pages: 98
• Dimensions: 133 mm x 206 mm x 7 mm
• Series: Karl Brunner Distinguished Lecture Series
• Subjects: Education and learning > Teaching preparation > Vocational needs; Social sciences, law, business > Business > General, dictionaries; Economics, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economics / Theory, RELIGION / Theology, Economic history