| Abstract: |
The argument of this paper is that much modern economics is drastically
undersocialised because it lacks an understanding of the distinctive
characteristics of the evolved human mind, despite the significant insights
provided by three of our most famous economists, Adam Smith, Alfred Marshall
and Friedrich Hayek. This deficiency results from a failure to apply what may
be considered the defining principle of economics, that of analysing the
implications of scarcity. These implications challenge the adequacy of a
theoretical structure based on the confrontation of preference functions and
opportunity sets, even when extended to include formal interdependence, as in
game theory; they require both a more modest view of human cognitive abilities
and a more extensive view of human motivation and potential. |