Although I’m a professional economist, I wrote this little book for ordinary people struggling to make everyday decisions on matters of ethics and morals.  I write about how we have moved away from a culture based on faith and toward one based on the ideology of free markets.  Our market culture is not so much an economic system as it is a spiritual disease, one that leads people to selfishly turn away from the well-being of their neighbors and the environment. How does one cure a spiritual disease?   In short, we must take seriously the words inscribed on U.S. currency: “In God We Trust.” Only God, and certainly not the greed at the foundation of ECON 110, can lead us to a world that fully values our human and natural environments.

Richard A. Levins is Professor Emeritus of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul.