Catholic Social Teaching and the Market Economy [Paperback]

This book fills an important gap. We Christians in the world's developed countries urgently need to discuss Christian doctrinal and practical positions regarding market economics, the role of compassion and state regulation of national economy, and Christian social ethics in business and employment.This book provides a good textual basis for such public discussions, not only among Catholics, but also among other Christians, and also between Christians and non-Christians,

The book is a result of an intellectual project by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in London, Britain's leading secular think-tank on economic policy. The eleven chapters of the book were written by nine authors, of which four from the U.K., four from the United States, and one from Australia. It is worth noting that two of the contributors are from the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, a U.S. think-tank, namely Father Robert A. Sirico (Acton Institute's president) and Dr. Samuel Gregg, Director of Research at the Acton Institute and an Adjunct Professor at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. The book's editor, Philip Booth, is a Programme Director at the IEA in London and a former advisor for the Bank of England.

In other words, the book was written by Christian specialists in economics and public social ethics who seem to favor free-market economy with limited public intervention, not by left-leaning Christians advocating radical models of social justice in national economies, hired work, and private business.
This is evident also in the Preface, where Professor Leonard P. Liggio says, "This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of the dangers of conflating compassion with government action; it helps us understand the Christian case for a more limited role for government; and it helps us to see the true Christian vocation in the contect of a smaller state that allows more room for private and voluntary-collective initiative in the economic, charitable and cultural areas of life."

Economics and economic policy are huge subjects and the book does not cover the entire range of economic and Social Teaching topics. For example, it lacks a deep discussion of such important topics as the biblical view of money or the relationship between business owners and employees. Nor does the book integrate well the macroeconomic and microeconomic levels of analysis. This is a pity, because we Christians make many moral and social decisions in the marketplace as individuals and members of a family. Nevertheless, these omissions do not diminish the great value of this book as a good starting point for Christian discussions about social aspects of economic policy in the developed countries of the West.

The content of the book is very interesting. The book is divided into three main parts, although all chapters are self-contained and can be read individually. The first part is entitled "Economic welfare and the role of the state."The second part is on "Business, the consumer and culture in Christian life."The final part is an interesting discussion on "Subsidiarity and solidarity: the role of the individual, the community and the state."
Individual chapters are devoted to the principles of Catholic Social teaching, the Catholic thinking about welfare and charity, just wage, taxation, the culture of consumption, business and the common good, biblical and Catholic Church positions regarding business entrepreneurs, the role of the state in economy, economic freedom, and other topics. In the Appendix, the book contains a useful list of major papal encyclicals and Second Vatican Council's documents relevant for the topics discussed in the book. The chapters contain short bibliographies, including references to some texts available on the Web.