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Economy, nature, and culture

This paper discusses the notion of the natural in mainstream economics and suggests some alternatives. Mainstream economics is embedded in the notion of the natural with the following features: 1) that human beings are, by nature, self-interested, 2) that economic activities carried out by self-interested humans bring about beneficial and natural consequences in the market, 3) that an economy is constrained by various natural factors, 4) that economics are close to natural sciences in terms of objects and methods. Due to this notion of the natural, mainstream economists tend to exaggerate self-interest of individuals and sustainability of pure market economies. Marx, Hayek, and old institutionalists offer alternatives to this mainstream notion. All these thinkers are convinced that human beings and economic systems are evolving in interaction with each other. Consequently, they reconstruct the notion of the natural so as to allow for institutions, rules and culture.