Shabeer Ahmad Lone
Economics must serve life, not profit. True development is freedom (Sen), not want (Tagore), rooted in justice for all (H.George) and dignity before wealth (Aristotle, Pope Francis). Poverty is not natural but structured (Schuon)-its remedy lies in reclaiming the soul of economics.
Economics, in its most radiant and redeemed vision, is not merely a mechanical calculus of markets or a sterile science of efficiency-it is the deeply moral, civilizational inquiry into the architecture of human flourishing. It is the grammar of how societies imagine justice, distribute dignity, and sustain the delicate weave of material, emotional, ecological, and spiritual well-being. To reduce it to GDP, utility curves, or price indices is to blind ourselves to its original and ultimate vocation: to serve life, not merely livelihood. Rooted in choices we make as communities and civilizations, economics should illuminate how the world can be more just, more compassionate, and more whole. It is at once a science of structured incentives and an art of ethical imagination. Tom Butler-Bowdon’s 50 Economics Classics serves as a prismatic gateway into this deeper terrain-curating a galaxy of voices that, across centuries and contexts, have tried to articulate how wealth, work, power, and purpose intersect. Yet to truly honor the promise of economics in the 21st century, we must not only distill inherited insights but widen the conversation to include forgotten, marginalized, and emergent paradigms-especially those arising from the Global South, ecological thinkers, and feminist economists who critique the very foundations of dominant systems. This task is urgent and timeless, for the soul of economics is not abstract theory but the destiny of how humanity chooses to live together on this fragile Earth.
A striking and timeless voice among these is that of Henry George, whose Progress and Poverty confronts the tragic contradiction of modern economies-where technological and industrial advances yield unprecedented wealth for a few, while multitudes languish in deprivation. George identifies land monopoly as a root cause of economic injustice, arguing that since land is not produced by human effort, its rising value should be returned to society. His proposed land value tax-though radical for its time-continues to provoke debate for its moral clarity and practical potential to reduce inequality. George’s work retains a sharp contemporary relevance amid global urban crises, housing inequities, and speculative economies that reward ownership over productivity. It reminds us that flourishing cannot occur where access to the Earth’s gifts is gated by rent-seeking and privilege.
Yet, as compelling as George’s insights are, they alone are not sufficient to grasp the full landscape of economic flourishing. The canon of economic thought-especially as distilled in many Western texts-has often marginalized voices from the Global South, feminist economists, ecological theorists, and indigenous traditions. This is a notable shortcoming in otherwise commendable syntheses like 50 Economics Classics, which, while accessible and wide-ranging, occasionally echoes the structural silences of mainstream discourse. To rectify this and deepen our understanding, we must foreground alternative paradigms. Ha-Joon Chang, for example, dismantles the myth that free markets alone guarantee prosperity, pointing out how today’s developed nations industrialized through protectionism, public investment, and developmental states. His empirical and historical insights expand the toolkit for emerging economies and challenge the moral claims of laissez-faire orthodoxy.
Feminist economists such as Joan Robinson and Manisha Desai offer a powerful critique of how economic models have long ignored the unpaid labor of care, emotional labor, and the unequal burdens women bear under capitalist structures. They reveal that the supposedly objective language of economics often conceals hierarchies of gender and power. Incorporating these critiques not only improves analytical rigor but also aligns economics with ethical and social inclusivity-crucial components of any vision for human flourishing. Likewise, postcolonial scholars underscore how economic categories were historically forged in imperial contexts, often reflecting the interests of the powerful rather than the lived realities of colonized or marginalized peoples.
The ecological dimension further pushes economics into its most transformative form. Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen’s entropic critique of economic systems warns of the unsustainable illusion of infinite growth within a finite biosphere. His work presaged today’s ecological crises by insisting that economics must be grounded in thermodynamic realities. Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics builds on this by mapping a safe and just space for humanity, where social foundations meet ecological ceilings. Tim Jackson, in Prosperity Without Growth, challenges societies to rethink affluence-not as an accumulation of goods but as the capacity to live meaningfully within planetary boundaries. These thinkers expand the definition of economic success from a narrow measure of material throughput to a richer, more integrative vision of balance, well-being, and intergenerational justice.
Politics not only animates economics but also distorts or redeems its soul. It decides whose interests shape markets, whose voices are silenced in policymaking, and whether economics serves collective flourishing or entrenched privilege. When politics prioritizes growth over justice or stability over equity, economics becomes an instrument of exclusion. Conversely, when guided by democratic ethics, ecological responsibility, and cultural plurality, politics can elevate economics into a means of shared dignity and human wholeness. In this light, economics is never neutral-it is always a battleground of values, visions, and vested interests.
Sacred traditions have long affirmed that economics is a moral endeavor. The Qur’an warns against wealth “circulating only among the rich” (59:7) and calls for justice, moderation, and care for the vulnerable. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “The best of people are those most beneficial to others,” rooting economic virtue in service. Ibn Khaldūn envisioned prosperity not through accumulation but through justice, trust, and civilizational health.Christianity, too, emphasized distributive justice-Aquinas spoke of the “just price,” and early Christian ethics upheld mercy over profit. Hinduism and Gandhi’s Sarvodaya upheld simplicity and collective welfare. Buddhist economics, echoing the Dhammapada, favors sufficiency over excess. Indigenous traditions treat land as sacred trust, not property, and view wealth as shared responsibility, not private hoarding.These traditions converge on a timeless truth: economics divorced from ethics is impoverished. As Seyyed Hossein Nasr warns, “Modern man has become the measure of all things, forgetting that he too must be measured.” To reclaim economics is to remember its soul-a compass for justice, compassion, balance, and the flourishing of all life.
Globalization and economic hegemony have reduced economics to profit maximization, deepening inequality and eroding cultural and ecological balance. To restore its soul, economics must prioritize justice, sustainability, and the well-being of all, redefining growth as a means to human flourishing, not just wealth.
A truly transformative economics, then, is not one discipline but a conversation among disciplines, not a universal theory but a responsive dialogue shaped by cultures,soulful trditions, ecologies, Sacred scriptures, politics and histories etc. It honors the analytical without sacrificing the ethical, the empirical without evading the existential. By weaving together Henry George’s moral economy, Chang’s developmental pragmatism, Robinson’s gendered critique, Desai’s decolonial insight, Raworth’s planetary ethics, and Jackson’s philosophical clarity, we begin to see economics not as a discipline trapped in abstraction but as a living, evolving inquiry into the good life in a shared world. This synthesis is urgently needed in our age of climate crisis, rampant inequality, and societal fragmentation.
Thus, a revitalized economics-infused with historical consciousness, ethical/sacred depth, ecological sobriety, gender justice, and intercultural wisdom-emerges not as a closed doctrine but as an open conversation, perpetually evolving in response to the crises and possibilities of each era. The insights of Henry George on land and justice, Ha-Joon Chang on developmental realism, Joan Robinson on gendered labor, Vandana Shiva on agrarian resilience, Kate Raworth on planetary balance, and Tim Jackson on post-growth dignity form a constellation of thought pointing toward an economics that nurtures the conditions for a just and sustainable life. No longer can we afford an economics severed from ecology, alienated from ethics, or blind to the scars of colonial and patriarchal histories. The future demands a new grammar of value-where care, cooperation, ecological balance, cultural dignity, and intergenerational responsibility take precedence over extractive growth and short-term gain. To realize such a vision, economists must become stewards of meaning, policy-makers must become architects of compassion, and scholars must become bridge-builders across traditions, geographies, and epistemologies. This is not merely a disciplinary reform-it is a civilizational awakening. In this light, economics becomes not just a tool to explain the world but a compass to heal it. It becomes, in its fullest essence, the science and art of human flourishing. And in reclaiming this essence, we do not merely redefine economics-we redefine what it means to be human.
Author can be reached at shabirahmed.lone003@gmail.com