Economic Theory and Economic Sustainability

We critically assess the nature, method and scope of neoclassical economics, and its purported relationship to the famous definition of economics by Lionel Robbins (that economics is the science of human behaviour as a relationship between scarce mans that have alternative uses). We claim that Robbins’ definition was more general than currently allowed by the method of neoclassical economics but in need of extension. Neoclassical economics is found to be narrow and devoid of concerns with the critical issue of economic sustainability. We propose a novel framework for economics that draws on classical, Schumpeterian and evolutionary theory that puts economic sustainability centre-stage.