Economics is primed for—and in desperate need of—a revolution, respected economic forecaster John D. Mueller shows in this eye-opening book. To make this leap forward will require looking backward, for as Redeeming Economics reveals, the most important element of economic theory has been ignored for more than two centuries.

Since the great Adam Smith tore down this pillar of economic thought, Mueller shows, economic theory has been unable to account for a fundamental aspect of human experience: the relationships that define us, the loves (and hates) that motivate and distinguish us as persons. In trying to reduce human behavior to exchanges, modern economists have forgotten how these essential motivations are expressed: as gifts (or their opposite, crimes). Mueller makes economics whole again, masterfully reapplying the economic thought of Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas.