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The social costs of capitalism: Evaluating socio-ecological arguments for post-capitalist calculation

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  • Berger, Sebastian

Abstract

Social waste and social costs of capitalism have been acknowledged as the core themes of social and institutional economics by leading historians. These themes contain extant treatment of premature resource depletion and ecological issues, which are of interest for a revolutionary social-ecological economics. Arguments developed by T.B. Veblen, J.M. Clark, K.W. Kapp and K. Polanyi critique capitalist accounting as the core calculative cause of social waste and social costs. Proposing alternatives to this core institution of capitalism makes these arguments revolutionary alternatives to neoclassical and neoliberal discourses on social costs and externalities, which dominate not only Ecological Economics. At the same time, they constitute a counterclaim to Ludwig von Mises' neoliberal claim of the indispensable and superior rationality of markets, exhibiting significant similarities with Otto Neurath's position. This article brings together for the first time above leading arguments to establish their common concern as well as their differences, and to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. The goal is to evaluate their usefulness for a revolutionary socialecological economics. This aims to end Ecological Economics' over-reliance on neoclassical externality theory, which lacks an understanding of the institutional root cause of the problem. That is, capitalism's calculative frame.

Suggested Citation

  • Berger, Sebastian, 2026. "The social costs of capitalism: Evaluating socio-ecological arguments for post-capitalist calculation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:240:y:2026:i:c:s092180092500312x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108829
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    References listed on IDEAS

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