Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street [Hardcover]

What can one say about this splendid book. The first impression is of astonishment at the sheer depth of Sedlacek's reading. It is a very thorough book full of most interesting source literature going back well before the start of Christianity. In addition, even to a non-economist, this book is very readable.

The two main themes are firstly that economics is over-dominated by numerical analysis and needs to recover its ethical foundations as a social science. Economics is not the only field of policy thinking which puts too much stress on mathematics and technology at the expense of broader, more value-driven concerns - our educational thinking, for example, has also lost its way in a similar fashion.

Secondly comes the theme that our overconsumption of resources - consumption being self-exciting (my words) - with consumption stimulating yet more desire for goods - all fuelled by debt, have created an unsustainable future. As example of this, Sedlacek cites the current financial crisis with the strong possibility of further worse future events.

These are well-argued themes but do raise the question of how we change the way our societies operate. After all, our present insatiable desires keep our economies running and provide employment for many.

In addition to the main themes I have attempted to summarise above, there are many, many other fascinating insights to be had. This is an excellent book, which I can warmly recommend.

Sedlacek contends that in modern economics reductionist view of humans as homo economicus, it has ignored, to its detriment, the ethical part of economics. In other words, contemporary economists have paid too much to descriptive or positive economics (what we do) at the expense of normative economics (what we should do). The result of this imbalance has been the West's naïve drive toward never ending growth that has led to crushing indebtedness and workaholism.

In short, Sedlacek wants to help us understand how various philosophical views influence our understanding of economics. Beginning with the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Sedlacek masterfully surveys economic thought to show how different perspectives concerning the nature of reality and the good life struggled with the practical questions of how to implement ideals into contemporary society given the tensions between nature/urban, reason/emotion, markets/governments, freedom/law etc.

Through this historical review, Sedlacek removes the certainty of the economic myths of our own day and causes us to reflect on what kind of life we want to live. The author doesn't provide an answer to our contemporary economic and social woes. While disappointed with this oversight, the text is valuable because by focusing on values it helps members of opposing camps to recharacterize the debate to one that will at least provide more clarity and less heat. If you doubt the role of values in economics then simply consider how two economists can look at the same economic data and suggest diametrically opposed governmental policies.

I commend the author for correcting the contemporary misunderstanding regarding Adam Smith's notion of self-interest. While his description of Hebraic and Christian economic views was generally quite good, he mistakenly read the economic thought of the New Testament through the lens of later Church leaders. This historical error, resulted in a greater polarization between Hebraic and New Testament thought than the evidence permits.

Nevertheless, the book is a welcome read not only because he writes well but because he causes you to reconsider your own economic biases. If you only think of economics as the "dismal science" then Sedlacek's Economics of Good and Evil will restore your interest in economics as an ethical discipline.

Stephen M. Vantassel is an environmental theologian who teaches at King's Evangelical Divinity School. He has written numerous articles and several books on wildlife.

From descriptions on the cover, Tomas Sedlacek is an interesting man. A former economic advisor to Vaclav Havel, this book has been a best seller in the Czech Republic and even, apparently, converted into a play. This book reflects such a range having references to Douglas Adams, popular films such as the Matrix, and ancient myths as well as to the great economists.

This range of interests ties in with the aim of this book to reframe and broaden the subject of economics to reflect deeper aspects of human nature. In doing this he even looks at this from an archetypal nature, even drawing on some of Jung's ideas in this. If looking at archetypes is a feature of what is sometimes called depth-psychology, this book could be described as an exercise in depth-economics, because it looks deeply into the origins of ideas that underpin the subject, exploring these in greater depth than I have seen anywhere else- though Richard Bronk's The Romantic Economist: Imagination in Economics would make for an interesting comparison.

Sedlacek argues that economics reframes many ideas that come, on an archetypal level, from other sources. To demonstrate this he attempts what he wryly calls the first economics analysis of the Gilgamesh epic, showing how it reflects the conflict between the wild and the civilized, a dilemma at the heart of economics. He also looks into how ideas from the Bible (both ancient Jewish and Christian), the Ancient Greeks, rationalism, mathematics and even emotions colour and affect one's view of reality and hence an economic viewpoint.

Looking at contemporary economics with its complex mathematical models, Sedlacek is pragmatic, arguing they tell another and valid story. His approach is integrative, avoiding getting lost in feuds that have characterised the history of economics to this day. Or perhaps one should say the approach is re-integrative. As Sedlacek points out many great economists such as Adam Smith, Ricardo, Marx, and even Keynes have regarded the subject as a moral one, not a physical science. If economics is treated as a mathematical exercise, without morality, it becomes blind and ceases to tell us anything. In recognising the moral, economics is simply returning to its roots.

This is a thought provoking book, beautifully produced. It may change your view of economics, and maybe, even of human nature. Fritz Schumacher, who is quoted early in the book, once said that economics "is not a science it's a branch of human wisdom." Though the science aspect is honoured, there is a lot of wisdom in this book. It deserves to have the widest influence.