People do matter, as we have observed from Adam Smith to Amartya Sen. But real people are too often invisible to academic economists, and especially to economic ideologues, most notably Milton Friedman and Arthur Laffer. They have been particularly invisible to predatory corporations and to development authorities in both donor and recipient nations. But that has been slowly changing.
We need a nobler economics that is not afraid to discuss spirit and conscience, moral purpose and the meaning of life, an economics that aims to educate and elevate people, not merely to measure their low-grade behavior. Here it is.
E. F. Schumacher's economics is not part of the dominant style. On the contrary, his deliberate intention is to subvert "economic science" by calling its every assumption into question, right down to its psychological and metaphysical foundations.
Theodore Roszak’s Introduction
Intermediate and appropriate technologies are part of what Schumacher gave us when he called the the assumptions of technological imperialism into question. This Hippo Roller replaces carrying buckets of water on womens’ heads, providing much more water with much less effort.
‘Hippo Roller’ gadget providing access to clean water
