A provocative and inspiring case for a more humanistic economics
Economists often act as if their methods explain all human behavior. But
in Cents and Sensibility, an eminent literary critic and a leading
economist make the case that the humanities, especially the study of
literature, offer economists ways to make their models more realistic,
their predictions more accurate, and their policies more effective and
just.
Gary Saul Morson and Morton Schapiro trace the connection between Adam
Smith's great classic, The Wealth of Nations, and his less celebrated
book on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and contend that a few decades
later Jane Austen invented her groundbreaking method of novelistic
narration in order to give life to the empathy that Smith believed
essential to humanity.
Morson and Schapiro argue that Smith's heirs include Austen, Anton
Chekhov, and Leo Tolstoy as well as John Maynard Keynes and Milton
Friedman. Economists need a richer appreciation of behavior, ethics,
culture, and narrative--all of which the great writers teach better than
anyone.
Cents and Sensibility demonstrates the benefits of a freewheeling
dialogue between economics and the humanities by addressing a wide range
of problems drawn from the economics of higher education, the economics
of the family, and the development of poor nations. It offers new
insights about everything from the manipulation of college rankings to
why some countries grow faster than others. At the same time, the book
shows how looking at real-world problems can revitalize the study of
literature itself.
Original, provocative, and inspiring, Cents and Sensibility brings
economics back to its place in the human conversation.
