Contradictions of Modern Economics: Analysis in Terms of Goals of Economic Actors and Society’s Prospects for Development

Abstract:

The crisis of economic science is increasingly evident. The prevailing liberal mainstream cannot bring the economy out of the crisis. The article deals with the crisis of economic science and the crisis of economic system from three perspectives: subject-matter of economics, methods of economics, social development goals. Neoclassical science (liberal mainstream) considers the subject-matter of economic science as the choice of alternatives in the case of limited resources. Relying on mathematical methods of analysis, neoclassical science puts forward the economic growth and profit maximization as a goal of social development. Such a system of «values» leads the real economy to the stratification of society, the exhaustion of resources and the growth of chaos at all levels of interaction between economic actors. Crises in society are becoming deeper and more prolonged. There is a need to comprehend the goals of economic system, a subject-matter and methods of science. As alternatives, the author considers the socialist economy and a model of theoretical economics on the basis of the formation of public priorities for the economic development of society.