Economists are shaping ar our commerc culture, says Oadave. They teach their students how to think this way and that just reinforces it. The word insentofis is matasticized in th last two or three decades as a measure of the spread of this economic way of thinking. And i do think that well, certainly makes it harder to try to persuade people, ah, that there's nother approach to happiness, it's better.
Author, economist, and theologian Mary Hirschfeld of Villanova University talks about her book, Aquinas and the Market, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Hirschfeld looks at the nature of our economic activity as buyers and sellers and whether our pursuit of economic growth and material well-being comes at a cost. She encourages a skeptical stance about the ability of more stuff to produce true happiness and/or satisfaction. The conversation includes a critique of economic theory and the aspect of human satisfaction outside the domain of economists.