Despite a vast increase in world trade and many achievements in science, technology, medicine, transportation and communications, the global economy faces gross disparities of income, both within and between nations, and environmental degradation.

While recognising many of the benefits brought by globalisation, Dr Mofid places much of the blame for this association of progress with poverty on neo-classical economics. Modern economists, he argues, lack a moral vision of society and are misguided in their attempts to make economics a science devoid of value judgements – cluttered with jargon and maths, and deliberately inaccessible to the average person.

The book concludes with suggestions for reform.