Human-Centred Economics (HCE) book
Blog Post
Financial Times recognizes my book as one of the best of 2024 on Economics
Martin Wolf, the dean of international economics commentators, kindly bestowed this distinction upon my book, Human-Centred Economics: The Living Standards of Nations, which proposes a fundamental reformulation of prevailing macroeconomic theory and policy.
Video
Book Presentation | HUMAN-CENTRED ECONOMICS: The Living Standards of Nations | by Richard Samans
ILO, Youtube
Launch presentation and discussion of book at International Labour Organization.
Video
Human-Centred Economics: The Living Standards of Nations
CSIS, Youtube
Extended video interview at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC on my newly published book, HUMAN-CENTERED ECONOMICS: The Living Standards of Nations.
Handout
Synopsis and Praise for “Human-Centred Economics: The Living Standards of Nations” (English)
ILO
Printable 4-page document containing book synopsis and praise as well as open access link to publisher's site. 4-page PDFs in Letter and A4 sizes.
Chapter
Human-Centred Economics: The Living Standards of Nations (Preface and Front Matter)
Palgrave Macmillan, ILO
Preface and other front matter, including title page, copyright, synopsis, acknowledgements, table of contents, about author, list of figures, list of tables, list of boxes.
Chapter
Introductory Overview: Institutionalizing Inclusion, Sustainability and Resilience in Market Economies (Chapter 1)
Palgrave Macmillan, ILO
This chapter provides an overview of the book's core argument that the root of the increasingly serious crisis facing capitalism and liberalism more generally can be located in a fundamental distortion in the way its canon of economic principles and tools have evolved since the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and especially in the way they have been applied over the past several decades.
Chapter
Liberal Economics’ Track Record on Inclusion, Sustainability and Resilience (Chapter 2)
Palgrave Macmillan, ILO
This chapter summarizes the important historical contribution made by liberal economics in accelerating economic growth and reducing poverty, while examining its profound and persistent difficulty in responding effectively to societal demands for greater social inclusion, environmental sustainability and resilience to major shifts and shocks. It traces a growing body of evidence and criticism that modern economics may be constitutionally incapable of addressing these considerations adequately.
Chapter
Original Sin or Wayward Practice? Living Standards as a Trickle-Down, Residual Consideration of Modern Economics (Chapter 3)
Palgrave Macmillan, ILO
This chapter interrogates the history of economic thought to trace the origins of the tendency by modern Economics to treat social inclusion, environmental sustainability and human and systemic resilience as an afterthought, a presumed by-product of rising productive output or GDP. Is this reflex of contemporary pedagogy and practice due to a conceptual flaw or omission in the original principles of liberal political economy or to a more recent misapplication of them?
Chapter
From the Wealth to the Living Standards of Nations: Internalizing the Social Contract in Macroeconomic Theory and Policy (Chapter 4)
Palgrave Macmillan, ILO
This central theoretical chapter of the book proposes to reformulate the standard liberal growth and development model by formally internalizing within it the critical role played by institutions (norms, policy incentives and public administrative capacity in key domains) in improving the social quality of growth---"aggregate social welfare" or the general standard of living---while also often helping to increase its quantity (aggregate production or GDP).
Chapter
Human-Centred National Economic Policy: Institutionalizing Inclusion, Sustainability and Resilience in Domestic Economic Governance (Chapter 5)
Palgrave Macmillan, ILO
This chapter elaborates on many of the domestic policies and institutional features that are most relevant to the task of strengthening an economy’s "aggregate distribution function" and narrowing its social "welfare gap", i.e., its distance from the frontier of leading outcomes and enabling policy practices of peer countries with respect to median household living standards.