Civilizing the Economy: A New Economics of Provision
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 4/1/2010
EAN 9780521767323, ISBN10: 0521767326
Hardcover, 282 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm
Language: English
When a handful of people thrive while whole industries implode and millions suffer, it is clear that something is wrong with our economy. The wealth of the few is disconnected from the misery of the many. In Civilizing the Economy, Marvin Brown traces the origin of this economics of dissociation to early capitalism, showing how this is illustrated in Adam Smith's denial of the central role of slavery in wealth creation. In place of the Smithian economics of property, Brown proposes that we turn to the original meaning of economics as household management. He presents a new framework for the global economy that reframes its purpose as the making of provisions instead of the accumulation of property. This bold new vision establishes the civic sphere as the platform for organizing an inclusive economy and as a way to move toward a more just and sustainable world.
List of figures
List of tables
Preface
1. Introduction
creating a just and sustainable economy
Part I. Creating a New Economic Framework
2. Adam Smith's silence and an economics of property
3. Reclaiming the notions of provision and family
4. Making provisions in a dangerous world
Part II. The Civic Option
5. From property relations to civic relations
6. Society, civil society and the market
7. Restoring reciprocity
8. Civic norms and market competition
Part III. A Civic View of Labor, Land, and Money
9. Labor
employment as engagement
10. Land
ownership as a concession
11. Money
commodity or credit
Part IV. Civilizing Economic Systems
12. A world of systems
13. Imagining stakeholder economy
14. The ethics of economic systems
15. Changing systems of provision
Part V. A Civic Agenda
16. The civic obligations of corporations
17. Creating circumstances for civic conversations
Appendix
free enterprise and the economics of slavery
Bibliography
Index.