ECONOMICS

The Progress Illusion: Reclaiming Our Future from the Fairytale of Economics

by Jon D. Erickson
Island Pr. Dec. 2022. 232p. ISBN 9781642832525. pap. $32. ECONOMICS
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Erickson (sustainability science, Univ. of Vermont; Sustainable Wellbeing Futures) has written an analytical history of economic thought. It is centered on the evolution of mainstream economics into a social science increasingly characterized by mathematical models and abstractions. Mainstream economics has its critics and opposing schools of thought; Erickson is among these. He does not think that economic growth is a solution to the ecological and social problems that confront society. That’s due to the planet being finite, and growth cannot be limitless. The book discusses policy proposals advocated by non-mainstream thinkers of the present and the past, such as Henry George.
VERDICT This latest addition to critiques of mainstream economics will likely appeal to economists, ecologists, and public policy analysts.
Reviewed by Shmuel Ben-Gad , Nov 01, 2022
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