Over the past century, economists have transformed their branch of learning from a “moral science” into a science based on incontrovertible truths. The individual – an economic human – is considered to act in a normal, rational way.

Mathematical thinking predominates, and the issue of what constitutes good (and bad) conduct has been abandoned. This abandonment of morals is one of the main reasons why economists and market specialists fail time and time again to see disaster looming on the horizon. Ethical conduct therefore needs to be put back on the radar screens of market players and the notion of economics as a value-free science needs to be rejected. People are frequently irrational, and the homo-economicus often tends more towards a homo-panicus.