John recently wrote a book review of Calculated Futures: Theology, Ethics, and Economics, in which he lays out briefly the essence of his Triple-A Economics theory (i.e. economics based on the work of Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas), which is the subject of his forthcoming book.
Here is an extract from this review:
First, what is economics about? The short answer is
production, exchange, distribution, and consumption. Scholastic economics
(c.1250-1776) began when Thomas Aquinas integrated these four elements, all
drawn from Aristotle and Augustine, at the individual, domestic and political
levels. This "AAA" outline was taught by Catholics and Protestants
(after the Reformation) for more than five centuries. (Lutheran Samuel
Pufendorf's version was widely known in the American colonies and cited by
Alexander Hamilton among other founders.) Classical economics (1776-1871) began when Adam Smith cut
these four elements to two, trying to explain what he called "division of
labor" (specialized production) by production and exchange alone. When
three economists (W.S. Jevons, Carl Menger, and Leon Walras) simultaneously but
independently reinvented Augustine's theory of utility, reintegrating
consumption with production and exchange, "neoclassical" economics
(1871-c.2000) was born. Adam Smith's significance is therefore not what he added to,
but rather subtracted from economics. The necessity of describing all four
facets of any economic event with at most three equations has condemned
classical and neoclassical economists frequently to resort to circular logic
and/or empirically false assumptions. Read the rest of the review here, and then buy his book and read it when it comes out.
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