A new book explores how economic theory can provide solutions to some of the world’s most serious challenges.
The Problem
The world is facing any number of various challenges—from climate change, to supply chain crises, to war, to inflation, to starvation, violence, despair, and fear for the future—and effective solutions are few and far between.
When one looks at the state of the economy, it is easy to shutter or imagine a bleak future. Understanding its workings is extremely difficult and the answers it seems to give us don’t offer much hope for the immediate future. That said, understanding economics can offer a path forward.
In his new book How Economics Can Save the World, Professor Erik Angner argues that modern economics is a notoriously inaccessible field. Still, it offers us valuable insight into our world. Embracing it can give us the tools we need to improve human flourishing. He believes you can show what economics is by showing what it does—because “economics is too important to be left to the economists.”
Possible Solutions
Professor Eric Angner is a philosophy professor at Stockholm University, and he didn’t always think economics was important. As he writes, he purposely pursued a degree in philosophy of science because he wasn’t impressed by what he saw as a “gap between pretension and actuality.” As he studied economics, he realized that it offered a powerful and effective way to study the world.
“With a healthy dose of optimism, and packed with stories of economics in everyday situations, Erik Angner demonstrates the methods he and his fellow economists use to help improve our lives and the society in which we live. He shows us that economics can be a powerful force for good, awakening the possibility of a happier, more just and more sustainable world,” says the publisher.
How Economics Can Save the World was published on January 26, 2023, by Penguin Books Ltd. Angmar is also the author of Hayek and Natural Law (2007) and A Course in Behavioral Economics (2020).