Rethinking Economics: From Classical Assumptions to Cognitive Reality

Since the eighteenth century, economics has drawn its view of human behaviour from moral philosophy rather than empirical observation.  Ideas that began as heuristics in the writings of Adam Smith—about self-interest, exchange, and the harmony of markets—gradually hardened into the axioms of classical theory.  Although anthropology, psychology, and behavioural research have since challenged these assumptions, the discipline continues to build upon them as if they were empirical truths.  Here we re-examine seven canonical claims that still frame economic thought: the myth of barter, the doctrine of self-interest, the rational actor, the utility function, the aggregation of individuals, the equilibrium ideal, and the invisible hand.  For each, we trace its intellectual origin and contrast it with contemporary evidence on how people actually coordinate and exchange. Together, these cases reveal a discipline built on historical invention rather than observation, and show how economics can be re-anchored in real human behaviour.