Thoughts of Mauro Reyes, Philosophy of economics, and government expenditure and budgeting and cleaner practices in SMEs

In the following I would like to put an abstract of an essay presented as a requirement of the MSc in Holistic Science course that I am doing in the Schumacher College (2007-08).

The holistic understanding of the economic phenomena is beyond the analytical and objective way of thinking that conventional economics has. Whereas the last one takes us to understand reality based on generalization the former allows us taking into account the differences of every aspect involved.

The resulting outcome -into the awareness that reality is complex and multidimensional- is dynamical and rich of possibilities when solutions to the economic problems are stated. It goes beyond obvious and limited solutions based on unidimensional views of reality that leave behind the context and the importance of the diversity in every aspect involved.

This essay is a critique of the use of models as way of explaining and giving solutions to economic problems, and also a proposal towards a holistic understanding that makes economics a science with qualities.

Mauro Reyes, November 2007, email: mauroalejandro@gmail.com Mauro will be presenting at our conference on social aspects of economics at our conference in February 2008 at Oxford University.