Accounting for social and cultural values

by Arjo Klamer

in De Economist, vol.150(4): pp.453-473

abstract

Economic reasoning heavily relies on an outdated accounting scheme. This article contains a proposal to reconsider the conceptualisation of the traditional notions of ‘goods’ and ‘capital.’ The point is that to account for crucial goods in the life of humans, communities, organisations, and societies, we need to go beyond the accounting for economic capital alone, and include forms of social and cultural capital. These are the capitals that generate the values that really count, i.e. social and cultural values. The issue of measurement remains acute. The argument calls furthermore for a reconsideration of the concepts of property and ownership.