Ro Naastepad receives Helen Potter Award

Economist Ro Naastepad received the ASE Helen Potter Award for her article “Robots and Us: Towards an Economics of the ‘Good Life” that she wrote with philosopher Jesse Mulder. The prize is awarded annually by the Association for Social Economics (ASE) to the author of the best article in the Review of Social Economy.

Responsibility implies choice, but free choice of technology conflicts with conventional economic principles that preclude free choice of values. As a consequence, technological development is not guided by consciously chosen values. Responsibility regarding technological progress will remain elusive unless we reconsider the philosophical foundations of economic theory, and widen our understanding of the nature and purpose of money, capital and progress.