Foreword Editor‐in‐Chief

• Author: Clifford W. Cobb
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12267
• Published date: 01 January 2019
• Date: 01 January 2019

Foreword

Editor-in-Chief

By Clifford W. Cobb

Alberto Ruiz has assembled an excellent collection of articles in th is

issue on an important topic: the limitations of neoclassical economics

(NCE). In combination, they show how mainstream economics fails

to explain how human wants can be achieved in balance with social

and ecological goals. As some authors point out, NCE is not so much

wrong as too narrow. It is designed to analyze only those conditions

that can be expressed in mathematical term s. As a result, there are

numerous practical problems that remain implacable when forced

onto the Procrustean bed of formal theory.

One might imagine from reading some of these articles that suc-

cess in replacing NCE with a suitable alternative is within our grasp: if

enough scholars would chisel away at the foundations of neoclassical

thought, the towering structure would fall. But the authors are also

aware that such an event would require the existence of a more en-

compassing structure or narrative to replace it. Marxism, as always, is

an available alternative, although Marx himself provided more critique

than constructive vision. Feminist economic theory balances theory

and practice rooted in daily experience. The key question seems to be

American Jour nal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 78, No. 1, (January, 2019).

DOI: 10 .1111/ajes.122 67

© 2019 American Journa l of Economics and Sociology, Inc.

The AMERICAN JOURNAL of

ECONOMICS and SOCIOLOGY

Published Q U A R T E R L Y in the interest of constructive synthesis in the

social sciences, under grants from the FRANCIS NEILSON FUND and the ROBERT

SCHALKENBACH FOUNDATION. Founded in 1941

Volume 78 January 2019 Number 1