Humane Economics

By Brandon Wallace ‘17

Economics professor Dr. Jannett Highfill and former economics instructor Patricia Podd Webber, coauthored a new book entitled A Tempered And Humane Economy: Markets, Families, and Behavioral Economics.

The book argues for an economic system that keeps people’s human needs in mind while balancing the economic principles of market rewards with the family principles of respecting needs and abilities.

“Economics is always a means to an end,” Highfill said. “You need to be able to meet your economic needs in order to be able to achieve your larger life goals. The economy needs to be respectful of that process. We want economic prosperity, but prosperity where there are opportunities for everyone to be prosperous and no one is left out.”

A Tempered and Humane Economy also touches on the idea of tempered optimism. Highfill and Weber are optimistic that the future state of the economy will be prosperous. That optimism is tempered, meaning not fragile or weak, not wild or crazy, but realistic.

“The reason that we have tempered optimism is because we believe the economy will increasingly use the right mixture of market and family principles,” Highfill said. “In the family, people learn things such as how to treat people and appropriate social behavior. We believe that if people take these principles that they learned at home and bring them into the market economy, then the economy will prosper.”

Highfill and Weber did research for five years and wrote the book for over two years. They had a desire to make the ideas of behavioral economics accessible to students. Highfill commented that those who have read the book have told her, “You can tell you really love to teach.”

Webber hopes that the main takeaway of the book is that people will be inspired to help others in a way that they may not have been able to do before.

Highfill has been teaching economics at Bradley since 1985. She has taught 21 different courses during her time at Bradley. Aside from teaching, she publishes articles in several economics publications throughout the year. Weber was an instructor of economics at Bradley for 25 years before retiring.

Economics faculty who reviewed the book offered the following praises:

“The authors nicely explain and analyze the wisdom and discipline that emerge from families and from markets. The book provides a very readable account of many issues pertaining to poverty and wealth. Replete with examples from everyday life, the book should be of interest to economists and non-economists alike.” — Daniel Biederman, University of North Dakota

“This quick reading book is filled with substance and stories of how family institutional virtues and interpersonal networking serve as a foundation of the overall economic condition. … “This optimistic book is recommended for people of all walks of life interested in the connectivity of families, communities and economic progress.” — Dr. Joshua Lewer, Bradley University