Economics and Morals

Edward Skidelsky

Chapter Chapter 10 in The Economic Crisis and the State of Economics, 2010, pp 111-118 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The first principle of economics, wrote F.Y. Edgeworth in 1881, is that “every agent is actuated only by self-interest.” Edgeworth’s principle has hung like a cross round the necks of economists ever since. Taken as literally descriptive, it implies an intolerably cynical view of humankind. Yet taken as a purely theoretical postulate, it is unclear how theorems derived from it could have any relevance to actual human affairs. One might as well, jibed the author John Ruskin, construct a science of gymnastics upon the supposition that men have no skeleton.

Keywords: Human Good; Rational Egoism; Cross Round; Psychological Hedonism; Modern Economic Theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-10569-0_11

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230105690_11

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