Assumption without representation: the unacknowledged abstraction from communities and social goods

Rick Wicks

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: We have not clearly acknowledged the abstraction from unpriceable “social goods” (derived from communities) which, different from private and public goods, simply disappear if it is attempted to market them. Separability from markets and economics has not been argued, much less established. Acknowledging communities would reinforce rather than undermine them, and thus facilitate the production of social goods. But it would also help economics by facilitating our understanding of – and response to – financial crises as well as environmental destruction and many social problems, and by reducing the alienation from economics often felt by students and the public.

Keywords: assumptions; communities; general equilibrium; separability; social goods. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 A13 B52 D20 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-10
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Published in The American Economist 1.57(2012): pp. 78-95

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