Economics is certainly not alone among the social sciences in seeking to use mathematics to demonstrate its ‘scientificness’. At least mathematics makes more sense there than it does in, say, political science — not that statistical studies in the social sciences are worthless, just that they are so limited in what they can do for solving problems.

One branch of economics that has been all but lost to history is institutional economics. It began — Thorstein Veblen basically created it as a field of study — as studying the institutional arrangements present in an economic system to (among other things) make statements about the values that informed it. As a discipline it, too, now worships at the alter of mathematics.

As it happens, I have developed an approach to justice that involves an ethic of justice that follows from observation within material existence, not beliefs (“Real Justice” if anyone might be interested). That ethic (mutual respect, as it happens) has implications for the economy, specifically the institution of money.

Applying that ethic to that institution in the existing economy results in astonishing outcomes for society: for the curious of mind, “For Crying Out Loud, ACCEPT That A SOLUTION Actually EXISTS” (a “3 min read” — including options for further reading — here in Medium).