Why is a New Economic Theory Needed?
As we go into the Aftershock, it will become quite clear why we need a new economic theory—the old theories will have failed miserably. Until then, it will be less obvious. But, we can give you a quick overview.
One of the key concepts missing from current economic thought is the concept of evolutionary change. The concept of evolutionary change is absolutely critical to a full understanding of many sciences. Imagine, for example, where modern physics would be without an understanding of the Big Bang and the evolution of our Universe to the present earth. Imagine where geology would be today without an understanding of the evolution of our continents and oceans over billions of years brought to us through the theory of Continental Drift.
Imagine where biology would be today, without an understanding of the evolution of life on earth without the theory of human evolution that Darwin and Wallace brought us. Not understanding the importance, or even existence of evolution, or how it works in relation to the economy means that economics is where all those sciences were before the advent of evolutionary thinking in each of them. Actually, economics is much worse off because it isn’t even a science yet. It is more a collection of philosophies, as all other sciences were before they became sciences.
Understanding the role of evolution in economics will be one of the keys to turning economics into a science and ultimately tying it into all other sciences as any science has to be to become a true science. Keep in mind this understanding of the importance of evolution in these aspects of our lives has been very recent. All of these insights were discovered in the 20th or 19th centuries. So, it isn’t overly surprising that economics still has not yet had its evolutionary revolution (vive l’evolution!)
However, there is a lot more to a new economic theory than just evolutionary thinking. You will see this over time as we add more videos on various aspects of the theory (yes, this site will be evolving too!) We will try to create videos so that one builds upon another making it easier to understand each new section.
Also, you can get a good overview of the problems with current economic theory, how the thinking evolved to where it is today and where it needs to go in the future, by downloading the chapter from our book Aftershock Third Edition called “Understanding Our Problems Is the First Step Toward Solving Our Problems” by clicking the link below.