Economics Imperialism and some of its Unintended Consequences

Studying the problem of the invisible hand may be very insightful, but also it brings up some dangers. As an ethicist, I would like to mention one very important axiological danger that occurs in some studies conducted by social scientists on the market especially linked to the invisible hand assumption. It is a danger of moral reductionism that results from assumption that rules of invisible hand are scientific laws. We might say that economic imperialism is not anything special. It is popular that when a scholar develops good theory, he tries to apply it to the widest possible range of phenomena, but in most cases, he is put in his place by fellow scientists. Economists, surprisingly, succeeded in widening the scope of their investigation without any loud objections. In my paper, I would like to explore the idea that economic imperialism is a leading paradigm in many spheres of science which has resulted in unintended social consequences. If we want to overcome this paradigm, we need to start with redefining, reinventing, revaluing the language we use.

DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0009.9104 URL: https://sgege.aps.edu.pl/resources/html/article/details?id=145834