Ok, last Zenit thing for now - I've been using a lot of their stuff as sources lately - even though there's other good articles, like Pope Benedict talking about world hunger and thankfulness and the latest phase in Pope John Paul I's cause.
The free market: Catholic thought vs. neo-classical/liberal economics. I'm hoping Al and I can develop something on this.
Hmmm, there are several things to chew on in this article. One problem that I see is the definition of economics because I see it used in the article in several different ways that I'm not sure correspond to the original definition. Also, that's not the definition of economics that most economists would use.
I also think I would like to see him define what he considers the Neo-Classical school.
Is there a more in depth paper or speech that this is based on? The one page transcript speaks in very broad terms.
Also, I don't think selfishness as used by economics is the same thing as selfishness as used by theologians.
BUT I would agree that one of the problems in economic study is that it's promotes a materialistic world view. Economists don't care about the soul or supernatural things in general so they are missing a big part of the picture. But what they've discovered is nonetheless extremely useful and worth integrating into Catholic social thought. My favorite aspect of economics is their concern for unexpected consequences.
Posted by: Al T | November 12, 2006 at 10:36 PM