Social Welfare

Get Full Text in PDF Abstract The last 60-70 years have seen the end of the industrial revolution and the rise of the post-industrial era. The way we, as humans, are treating our environment (and each other) is threatening our very existence on our planet. This becomes apparent when we examine the reality of climate change, pollution, destruction of biodiversity, inequality and more. We must... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF While emerging from the emergency of the largest pandemic in a century, many of us are at the end of our emotional ropes and are longing for normality in an uncertain world. We are troubled by the lack of leadership, poor behavior, and the inability of governments to address a pandemic that could have been prevented, had we heeded the warnings of experts and scientists. We... Read more

Get Full Text in PDF Achieving the SDGs by 2030 is still possible,* but it requires bold policies leveraging bold action. Luckily, we have the SDG and Financing for Development (FFD) framework to guide us. The SDGs unanimously agreed by all nations cover the world’s most pressing social, environmental and economic issues. Yet despite unprecedented buy-in by governments and other stakeholders,... Read more

 Get Full Text in PDF Abstract This publication provides clues to the phenomenon of increasing social division within rich societies. At the same time, it refers to more recent insights of a partly empirical, partly mathematical type, which make it possible to describe the income situation of mature states/market economies solely by means of the so-called Gini coefficient. The Gini... Read more

 Get Full Text in PDF Abstract The current economic crisis can be explained but we must remember that the crisis is the product of human behavior, both theoretical and practical, and not the product of some force of nature or mathematical law. An economic system is based upon production and consumption. A crisis arises whenever there is an imbalance between these two activities. Until the... Read more

 Get Full Text in PDF Abstract Unequal distribution of societal power is to a large extent responsible for poverty, hunger, the destruction of nature, and inhuman living conditions. From the perspective of its redistribution, we distinguish three basic means of power: The ownership of material and immaterial properties, the kind of organisation and the values according to which properties... Read more

 Get Full Text in PDF Abstract The unprecedented opportunities missed at the end of the Cold War have come back to haunt and taunt us in the form of misshapen ideologies and misconceived policies. Discredited notions discarded by history once again raise their heads to be finally buried or bury us. Despite the rhetoric of the Washington Consensus, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse... Read more

 Get Full Text in PDF Abstract This paper examines the foundations of economic neoliberalism and underlines the implications of the foundations of this economic theory in its reliance on economic value as ownership, property, and commodity which misdirects economic inquiry from the real value of human capital as the proper foundation of a viable economic system. It focuses on the role of a... Read more

 Get Full Text in PDF Abstract The remarkable economic achievements of the past two centuries have cast an illusion of omniscience on the discipline of Economics, which even repeated catastrophic policy failures have still not entirely banished. The gap and disjuncture between prevailing economic wisdom and its effective application to promote human welfare and well-being are enormous and... Read more

 Get Full Text in PDF Abstract The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) describes human capital as “knowledge, skills, competencies and attributes embodied in individuals that facilitate the creation of personal, social and economic wellbeing.”* It follows from this interpretation that investment in human capital includes the sum of all costs that allow a new... Read more

 Get Full Text in PDF Abstract Our contemporary era has a critical focus on globalization. However, notwithstanding the necessary interdependence and interdetermination of the forces of globalization, these forces are deeply influenced by an economic theory, a theory known as “economic neoliberalism.” To date, this theory has not been seriously challenged. Fellows of the World Academy of... Read more

 Get Full Text in PDF Abstract The general framework of this paper is to focus on the evolution of scientific consciousness and the dramatic technological developments it has generated, which have vital and highly consequential consequences for social organization on a global basis. The central fact about the current technological revolution is the enormous challenges it provides for... Read more

 Get Full Text in PDF Abstract The contemporary world is global, uncertain and rapidly changing. The present economic, social and political paradigm is destroying natural, human and social capital at an accelerating pace. Problems generated by these destructions require urgent solution. All these problems are complex, and cannot be addressed in a piecemeal, sectorial fashion. These problems... Read more

Happiness Then and Now and the Place of the Human Being in Social Theory Get Full Text in PDF Πάντων χρημάτων μέτρον άνθρωπος ΠρωταγόραςThe human being is the measure of all things- Protagoras Abstract Protagoras said, "The human being is the measure of all things". This implies, among other things, that language, science and religion are human inventions, as are economics, money, efficiency,... Read more