Concept of “Humanomics” and Its Impact on the Debate on the Economic Disparities and Inequalities

The observations of a dramatic jump in income inequalities and inordinate wealth concentration motivate an assessment of their causes and effective remedial measures to combat their adverse consequences. To identify the roles of the fall of communism, liberalization policies, a free trade regime, globalization, the revolution in information and communication technology, the COVID-19 pandemic, and mounting global debt in exorbitant wealth concentration and income inequalities is an important task. To alleviate poverty and tackle the drastic consequences of extreme levels of wealth distribution, there is an enormous disagreement on the effectiveness of the policy measures recommended by classical liberalism (laissez-faire), communism, socialism, neoclassical liberalism, institutionalism, and ordo liberalism. One of the important dimensions of this debate is to identify an appropriate approach to assess the incidence and depth of poverty, and income and wealth inequalities. The other important dimension is the assessment of its dire consequences. This review compares the different approaches to resolving this issue in mainstream economics and highlights a new approach introduced by ‘Humanomics’. Though poverty leads to crimes, social unrest, economic miseries, political disturbances, and sometimes painful revolutions, running the economy at full throttle and engaging people badly in economic activities at the cost of their social and family lives, fundamental rights of enjoyment, and lawful desires are equally bad. According to ‘Humanomics’, this type of economic achievement damages families and social lives, creates mental stress, increases the crime rate, and even deteriorates human biology, while a stress-free participation in economic activities is a right of Homo economicus.