We are addressing fundamental issues related to global capitalist civilisation with 8 basic questions. The objectives of this project are to shed light on the most salient challenges facing human civilization, explore the role of economics and the inner workings of capitalism, and heighten people’s awareness of both the economic system in which they live and work, and the role of economics in understanding this ever-changing system. Age of Economics is a website focused in raising individual and collective awareness of the global capitalist civilization in which most of humanity is living – and that affects all homo sapiens, and all other species that inhabit our planet. The motivation to understand the inner workings and outward trajectory of global capitalism comes from the fact that modern homo sapiens civilization faces converging challenges that many scientists agree are existential in nature. The motivation also comes from the fact that we live in an extremely specialized world that has alienated most of us from the “big picture” of global capitalist civilization, leaving us less and less able to see the forest for the trees.
Age of Economics is interviewing a diverse group of economic and non-economic thinkers – famous and less-known alike – with the aim of heightening our understanding of global capitalist civilization in terms of both the benefits it has conferred on humanity and the converging threats that it poses (in its current incarnation) to organized human civilization.
In so doing, Age of Economics strives to transcend the political spectrum and examine global capitalist civilization from the viewpoint of the human species as a whole., with the ultimate objective of seeking out solutions to address the world’s most salient, most urgent, existential challenges.
We are asking a series 8 questions to each of our interviewees that can be grouped around three overarching themes:
- Can current global capitalist civilization escape the fate of previous historical formations (ancient empires, feudalism, Soviet Central Planning, etc.) through adjustment and reform, or is it headed for stagnation and eventual collapse?
- Is capitalism – or whatever we should call it – the best system to serve the needs of humanity?
- What is the nature and role of economics in helping us understand these critical questions?
We have 8 major question categories:
Fundamental Economics
Why does economics matter?
Economic Science & Engineering
What are the differences between economic science (academic economics) and economic engineering (policymaking)?
Society & Economics
What role does economics play in society?
Does it serve the common good?
Economics and the wider environment
Economics provides answers to problems related to markets, efficiency, profits, consumption and economic growth. Does economics do a good job in addressing the other issues people care about: climate change and the wider environment, the role of technology in society, issues of race and class, pandemics, etc.?
The Age of Economists
As we live in an age of economics and economists – in which economic developments feature prominently in our lives and economists have major influence over a wide range of policy and people – should economists be held accountable for their advice?
Economics & Capitalism
Does economics explain Capitalism? How would you define Capitalism?
Surviving Capitalism
No human system to date has so far been able to endure indefinitely – not ancient Egypt or Rome, not Feudal China or Europe, not the USSR. What about global Capitalism: can it survive in its current form?
Capitalism and humanity
Is Capitalism, or whatever we should call the current system, the best one to serve the needs of humanity, or can we imagine another one?