Quo Vadis, Market Economy? Challenges of Sustainability and Values, Possible Answers

Abstract

Over the past half century, mainstream economics, the theoretical basis for the functioning of market economies, has contemplated value-neutral models paradoxically disconnected from reality. The forced abstraction of these models, as well as the fact that economic policies have been dominated by deregulation and liberalization resulted in a situation where markets have not been able to handle crises properly, and they themselves have become the causes of them. In this study, the author claims that there is a solution: a sustainable market economy, based on the reintegration of value orientation into market processes. In other words, a paradigm shift is needed with sustainability in its focus. But sustainability is just a buzzword, as long as we fail to realize the fact that we have limited room for manoeuvre in society and economy, and we cannot do everything we would otherwise have the opportunity to do. Knowing this, we can state it with certainty that only those nations will be successful in the 21st century that find the path to a sustainable market economy and are able to follow it. The model outlined by the author suggests directions for implementing this idea.