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Quo vadis: Does economic theory need a sustainability makeover?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Wylie Bradford
Wylie Bradford*
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Australia
*
Wylie Bradford, Department of Economics, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. Email: wylie.bradford@mq.edu.au
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Abstract

Prof. Marglin argues for a new economics and a new conception of welfare as part of the move to a sustainable future. However, the typical criticisms of the treatment of welfare in economics appear wide of the mark, and there are good reasons to regard this treatment as accurate enough for the job at hand. The critics appear to miss how demanding the job of reshaping economics in their (implicit) desired image would be, and how unproductive it might turn out to be to insist on such a reshaping as a precursor to serious action.

Keywords

D6B5Social justicesocial policysustainabilitywelfare

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