As I listen to @ThomasEWoods and @saifedean talk about Saif's new treatise on economics, without having read his book yet, I have some thoughts on the general tone and framing of economics in all schools. The focus is on human action based on the scarcity of resources and marginal value. I feel like there is opportunity to expand economic thought by recognizing value is based on value systems rooted in human life. This view of value helps reframe economics from bean counting (i.e., metrics based on money) to standards of living (quality of life). This unifies material value (priced in money) with spiritual, fulfillment, aesthetic, and all other forms of value. This obviates the need to treat externalities exceptionally. This framing puts human purposes and outcomes (goals and achievements), and thus value-systems that model human purposes, at the heart of economics. Incidentally, it also brings ethics into the economic realm. As it should, because ethics is fundamental to human action. I feel that this unification would benefit economic theory.
