1. Foundations of Human-centered Economics
Garry Jacobs
CEO, World Academy of Art & Science
CEO, World University Consortium
Vice President, The Mother’s Service Society (India)
Dubrovnik, February 1-3, 2017

2. Untapped Social Potential
Unmet Needs
Underutilized Resources
1.75 billion (25%) living in multidimensional poverty
Global financial assets of $250 trillion, from $12 trillion in 1980
Food, clothes, housing for 3 billion people living on < $2.50 a day
Global excess production capacity & life-saving technologies
Need for education, medical care, social services, environment
200M unemployment globally billion under-employed
Growing shortage of natural resources
Methods to raise energy & resource productivity & reduce waste

3. Core Aspects of a Comprehensive Theory
Production
Resources & Ecology
Markets & Trade
Technology & Science
Peace & Political Unity
Education
Law & Governance
Distribution of Social Power
Transport & Communication
Values of Civilization and Culture
Money, Banking & Finance
Individuality & Leadership
Social Organization, Management, Trust
Ways of Thinking & Construction of Knowledge

4. Economy as a Social Organization
Modern economy is a social institution founded on an ever-expanding organization of human relationships in space & time
Social institutions are created to serve society. Like democracy, the value of economy depends on the guiding values and principles on which it is founded
Society’s purpose is to maximize the economic security, welfare and well-being of all its citizens which is essential to achieve and maintain peace, social stability, sustainable prosperity, human dignity and the fullest realization of human potentials for individuals, societies and humanity as a whole.

5. Society
Society is not merely a machine or complex, mechanistic system subject to mechanical laws of Nature.
Economics should be based on an integrated conception of society as a complex, conscious, integrated living organism undergoing a continuous process of evolution.
Society includes local, national and global dimensions that are all interconnected and interdependent with one another.
Best analogy for society is the integration of the human body with emotional-mental consciousness and environment.

6. Value-based Social Science
Beware of misguided naturalism in the social sciences Karl Popper
The laws of economy are human-made and subject to choice.
All social science is value-based.
The values should be made explicit.
Current theories value growth, money, markets, systems and rules.
Human-centered economics should be based on values of freedom, dignity, security, welfare, well-being, sustainability and evolution.

7. Interdisciplinarity
Economy is an open system related to, interacting with and mutually interdependent on political, legal, technological, social, cultural, psychological and ecological dimensions of society.
Therefore economic science must make explicit the dependencies and interactions between economy and these other spheres of humanity’s social existence.

8. Trans-disciplinarity
Social science should be founded on fundamental social processes common to all human activity
Evolution of conscious awareness & intention
Implementation of values
Conversion of human energy into social power for accomplishment
Capacity for self-organization
Development of complex relationships and network effects
Emergence of concealed evolutionary potentials

9. Social Power
Society is an infinite reservoir of social potential which is the source and driving force for all social development & accomplishment
No society fully harnesses and utilizes the potential social power
Social potential is converted into social power by the generation and channeling of human energies through social structures
The distribution and exercise of power in society is a critical determinant of how economic systems function and who benefits.
The more equitable the distribution, the greater the generation of power
Social power expresses as the quantum of power individuals can draw from the society as permitted and supported by formal rights, laws, rules and social systems and informal institutions, customs, usage & values

10. Integration of Objective & Subjective Dimensions
Social science needs to reconcile and reunify objective and subjective dimensions of reality and recognize the ultimate primacy of human aspirations, consciousness & values.
Revolution of Rising Expectations
Concept of Resources
Value of money is founded on trust and confidence
Trust, faith, confidence
Resources

11. Role of the Individual
In human science, the individual is not merely a single unit of a uniform type like atoms and molecules.
Human individuals are characterized by both common and unique characteristics, both subconscious habits and conscious choice.
The individual as leader, pioneer, inventor, artist and original thinker is the catalyst for all social innovation, creativity & evolution.
Development of individuality and development of society go hand in hand.
Society seeks more effective ways to foster the fullest development of individuality in harmony with collective welfare & well-being.

12. Evolution has a direction
Society evolves by increasing levels of consciousness and organization directed in pursuit of universal values of freedom, human dignity, equality, interrelationship, innovation, creativity and individuality.

13. Human-Centered Economics
The development and creative expression of human aspirations, energies and capacities – individual and collective – constitute the driving force and ultimate determinant of the direction and characters of economic development and human well-being.
Individual Freedom, Social Equity & Ecological Sustainability are core values of the process.