What is Economics with Justice?

The School of Economic Science, began in 1937 as the Henry George School of Economics. One of its aims was to demonstrate that freedom and prosperity are possible for people everywhere, providing we follow economic laws and aim for a fair outcome from economic arrangements.

Justice is the ethical basis of economics and the real measure of economic understanding is whether the policies and practices that flow from that understanding produce justice for all participants.  Unfortunately the models of economics employed by most governments do not meet this standard resulting in great accumulations of wealth alongside great poverty, consumption patterns based on exploitation, and our natural environment systematically undermined and destroyed for profit.

Designed for economists and people new to the subject, the Economics with Justice course examines if it needs to be this way.  The first term sets out basic ideas of economics in the context of economic justice. The second term looks at the historical development of the subject focusing on the main contributors, considered to be: Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, Henry George, Alfred Marshal, John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman, and the effect of their ideas on present circumstances.

Economics is primarily about people and communities – not interest rates, foreign exchange and limited liability companies. Economics is a study of Mankind; economic theories are tested by observation and reason to see what result they produce. The course looks at the effect of current economic models on the world around us to evaluate their success.

The true goal of Economics with Justice is to discover the conditions that enable every individual to find a fulfilling life.