In his book The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good, philosopher Michael J. Sandel regrets the ”growing role of economists as policy advisors,” “the increasing reliance on market mechanisms to define and achieve the public good,” and the mistaken notion that “the common good is defined by GDP.” Sandel joins a chorus of thinkers who treat economics and the economists not only as no partners in the pursuit of green ideals and the common good – but as obstacles to it. This lecture attempts to assess Sandel’s argument by confronting it with the manner in which contemporary economists in fact analyze and propose to solve contemporary challenges. We’ll see that Sandel is right about markets, but not in the manner that he might think; that economists do not conflate GDP and the common good; and that economic analysis and thoughtful reflection about green ideals and the common good in fact go hand in hand.

SPEAKER

Erik Angner is Professor of Practical Philosophy at Stockholm University. As a result of serious mission creep, he holds two PhDs – one in Economics and one in History and Philosophy of Science – both from the University of Pittsburgh. His most recent book is How Economics Can Save the World: Simple Solutions to Solve Our Biggest Problems (Penguin 2023). He is the author of two other books, Hayek and Natural Law (Routledge 2007) and A Course in Behavioral Economics, 3rd Ed. (Red Globe Press 2020), as well as multiple journal articles and book chapters on behavioral and experimental economics; the science and philosophy of happiness; and the history, philosophy, and methodology of contemporary economics.

More on Prof. Angner’s Substack The Philosophical Economist.