Carsten Hermann-Pillath presents a working paper on ‘Elements of a critical theory of the economy’

The text puts together the chapter summaries of the book ‘Elements of a critical theory of the economy’ (German: Elemente einer kritischen Theorie der Wirtschaft’). I finished a draft version of the book at the end of 2016 and will now resume work on the manuscript, which should be completed late summer this year. This book is a comprehensive critique of standard economics, including new developments such as behavioural economics, and proposes an alternative approach that is ‘critical’. This means that I approach economics as a discipline that is performative, meaning that it is part and parcel of the economy, and that cannot claim to be able to adopt an external analytical standpoint. I argue that many developments of economics in recent years show this critical potential endogenously, and so I build on the internal debate in economics to design my own alternative. The book deals with most fundamentals of economics, such as the theory of the individual, macroeconomics, institutions, and economic policy. In the end, I suggest an ‘utopia’ of the market economy that would radically change most existing institutions of capitalism.