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An Economics Lesson from Tolstoy
Article

An Economics Lesson from Tolstoy

The Russian novelist believed that the dismal science was inescapably suffused with morality and politics.



Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Background
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Leo Tolstoy’s stories show that economics can be a force for social change rather than simply a science of fixed laws and outcomes. Journalist Nick Romeo engagingly assesses Tolstoy’s work in highlighting human behavior in business, and he notes lessons that are as resonant today as they were more than a century ago. Romeo also reports on the shift now occurring within the dismal science, one that augurs a better understanding of commercial activity through the combined study of economics, politics and philosophy.

Take-Aways

  • A reliance on mathematics and theory pushed economics toward the hard sciences.
  • Economics should incorporate more of the social sciences.
  • Some businesses and organizations are making changes.

About the Author

Nick Romeo is a journalist at the New Yorker, a teacher at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and the author of The Alternative: How to Build a Just Economy.


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