Prof. Azza Karam (Religions for Peace International), Athena Peralta (World Council of Churches) & Prof. Dr. Silja Graupe (Cusanus-Hochschule, Bernkastel-Kues)

Economics students are being taught that there is a distinction between normative and positive economics, the latter being a value-neutral analysis of human behaviour and society. But does this promise of economics as a value-neutral science actually hold? After all, the so-called classical economists like Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Karl Marx were largely invested in questions of political and moral philosophy rather than the study of human behaviour as a trade-off between conflicting ends and scarce means, as (neoclassical) economics is commonly understood today.

This panel questions the conception of the human underlying mainstream economics. In fact, the so-called homo oeconomicus is not value-neutral and, thus, already implies certain philosophical and moral assumptions, which are rarely made explicit in mainstream economics. This shall be the starting point for a broader debate on a more just global economic system and international solidarity in light of the coronavirus crisis.

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