Rival Gospels of Wealth

Abstract

From the grievance that economics has been beholden to wealth creation, we turn to a grievance that economics has been of insufficient service to wealth creation. In this chapter we take up the charge that economics has misdirected society’s ambitions for the realisation of its material potential. Economics, complain critics, has advocated the invisible hand as a means to prosperity. In truth, these critics claim, wealth is to be reached by a different path. The teachings as to what that path is are various. One doctrine, that we might call the ‘Conquest of Nature’, maintains that wealth lies in harnessing the unharnessed powers of nature. Another, the ‘Gospel of Technology and Engineering’ teaches that technological and scientific knowledge is the road to unprecedented prosperity. A third, the ‘Gospel of Labour’ preaches work and a work-ethic as the answer to material wants.