Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Is it possible to transform the subject of economics, making it into a subject that depicts economic behavior much more realistically?And, if so, is it possible to write an introductory text for this subject that would be both interesting and understandable for young college students as well as being a text that could motivate these undergraduates to go further in their economic studies?John Komlos believes this is possible.Komlos' book, Foundations of Real-World Economics: What Every Economics Student Needs to Know (second edition, Routledge) is the result of his effort to show that it can be done.It should be pointed out that John Komlos has proved himself to be an extremely competent scholar who has had a long distinguished career as an economist and social scientist.Komlos was born in Budapest in 1944 and came to Chicago in 1956.He did his graduate work at the University of Chicago where he received PhDs in both history and economics.Among his important accomplishments is founding the field of economics and human biology.Komlos' scholarship has defied disciplinary boundaries.Notably, he has published in major journals in five different disciplines: economics, history, statistics, statistical methodology, and mathematical population studies.In the years since the financial meltdown of 2008, a good part of Komlos' research and writing has focused on understanding the causes of the financial crisis and what it means for the economics discipline.Unlike most contemporary writing in economics, Komlos' economics writings are explicitly based on his progressive, democratic, and humanitarian values, and his text is not based on the methods of neoclassical economics.The focus of his economics is on increasing people's life satisfaction (or well-being) as opposed to the typical economic focus of economists on growth of output and income.In essence, Komlos is concerned with the relationship of economics to the flourishing of people's lives.In Komlos view, economics needs to be based on moral values as was true to a great extent in the writings of economic thinkers in the 18th and 19th centuries.As was true with Herbert Simon, Komlos aspires to develop an economics that is entirely integrated with all the other social sciences (Augier and March 2002: 3).There is no doubt that Komlos has written a very high quality book, but I do have doubts that his book can be successful as an introductory economic text.Let's examine this issue carefully.What is the goal of this book?Komlos' intention
Source: Society and Economy
Author: John F. Tomer
Institution: Manhattan University
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $970
OpenAlex ID: W3020157170