2013 Reading: Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein

sacredSacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition by Charles Eisenstein

Judging by comments I’ve heard about this book, the author has something of a cult following among refugees from capitalism–the folks who want to escape from the reality of modern, corporate-controlled, globalized existence.

I want to be sympathetic with these views, but I just can’t. There is too much about the argument offered by this book and others like it that is based on faulty, or at least unsubstantiated, assumptions. Yes, we could be headed for a societal collapse that will fundamentally alter the global economy, but that’s not a foregone conclusion, and Eisenstein seems to treat it as if it is. On page after page, the author makes assertions–statements that he offers as fact and then uses as jumping-off points to reach conclusions that sound reasonable–but offers no evidence.

Furthermore, in order to buy into the argument, one has to reject classical economics, and I’m just not able to do that. The book is interesting, but ultimately unconvincing.

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