Humanomics and Human Action Explanations of Why Human Beings Divide Their Labor

Modern economics, whether in the orthodox tradition of Paul Samuelson or the heterodox tradition of Ludwig von Mises, ultimately looks to explain economic outcomes, that is, the effects of human action. In their own way, neither distinguish the consequences of human action from the origins of human action, and neither have any truck with ethical valuations and moral judgments as part of their modern subjective theory of value. If economics is to be about flesh-and-blood human beings, and why we do what we do, then perhaps we need an analytical framework that considers human action in its origin, rather than in just its outcome. Following Adam Smith’s lead, I explain the division of labor with a humanomics account that is moral all the way down