Learning and teaching managerial economics: a critical approach

Abstract

This is the second in our series of survey articles on topics in economics. Mike Williams argues that based, as it is primarily, on neoclassical thinking, Managerial Economics has no adequate theory of production or the creation of use values. It concentrates instead on aspects of business in which exchange and market valorisation are dominant. The author argues that far from being an aid to the rational use of resources and the satisfaction of consumer wants through more efficient use-value creation, Managerial Economics is directed at the interests of the firm and its capitalist owners and management. These are treated exclusively as “market enforced value-based interests.”

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