NOTES ON CATHOLIC ECONOMIC TEACHINGS
Dear Friend,
Thank you, most gratefully, for this very thoughtful and interesting compilation of readings (in Catholic Economic Teaching, below).
It seems to me that there is still dispute about fundamental requirements in: - family & virtue - redistribution - needs
And, how the state can do, in these, is disputed. Acton (along with the Koran) argue it should be left to charity. And there is on the other side much, naive, talk of prosocial (read, in my view, "in-group" and "virtue-signalling" or "warm-glow") community action. Which, as far as I have been able to tell, evaporates utterly and completely once family or personal habits are threatened. (In any change..?: but "the cows will stop milking", "I HAVE to drive my child to the swimming pool..", etc)
But, there is little argument or disagreement about wealth creation (or the incentives - in the market system - for frugality and productivity).
While muddling along, with slogans daubed on walls, has got us by up to now, it would appear to me that there are forces who are determined to see a return to regressive models. Both on the so-called "libertarian" side and among the "socialists" also. Principally so as to foster civil strife and impoverishment (or civil war, preferably) in the Empire and among the Colonists.
Also, there is no mention of limits. And the, excruciating (but PC'ly unpublishable), statistics on inequity in consumption: 17 kilograms of OilEq / Capita / day in the USA and Australia (or the 11 kgOilEq/p/d in Europe) - versus 1.4 kgOeq/Cap/Day in Kerala and Sri Lanka with very good (/comparable?) health and wellbeing.
Or any conception of the future that beckons - to me #Walkable + #NoOneLeftBehind. Or the Scorched Earth (climate war) #EdenIsBurning, actually, Eden HasBurnt (!??), that seems inevitable. Given the failure to look into the consequences of the AutoMobile (FreeWays and the AeroPlane) as the pinnacle of human civilisation.
Which is, notably, left out of all of these readings. As is the possibility, or objective, to TEST which theories work, and what their practical consequences are.
READINGS
Economics in the Catholic World | Acton Institute | Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn https://acton.org/pub/religion-liberty/volume-4-number-4/economics-catholic-world - wealth creation is all important/ trickle down works/ but "morally motivated unions can be a pillar".
Catholic social teaching must confront the regulatory state | Acton Institute | Philip Booth https://acton.org/publications/transatlantic/2017/10/24/catholic-social-teaching-must-confront-regulatory-state - the importance of "unintended consequences" and "dead weight" (both of which can be huge) of regulations and "institutions" ( a la Douglass North).
Who are the Catholic economists? | Marginal REVOLUTION https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/05/who-are-the-catholic-economists.html - Catholic thinking, in Economics, down the ages. (Pretty limited, but a few more helpful readings).
A Catholic Framework for Economic Life http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/economic-justice-economy/catholic-framework-for-economic-life.cfm - US Convention of Catholic Bishops: Official statement (waffley and unfocused), but "many people are being forced to choose between basic necessities like food, shelter, and health care. How can you - and how can our society as a whole - help to provide for [their] needs?" (doesn't answer this question).
Why the wealth gap is bad for everyone | USCatholic.org https://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201306/economics-inequality-why-wealth-gap-bad-everyone-27421 - community action + status quo will solve all the problems.
Catholic Economics: Alternatives to the Jungle | by Angus Sibley https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Catholic-Economics-by-Angus-Sibley-author/9780814648681
========================================Redeeming Capitalism | by Kenneth J. Barnes https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/7557/redeeming-capitalism.aspx - a "call to reform capitalism as a moral enterprise so it can become a morally steered servant rather than a cruel, amoral master" - very valuable, grounded, and insightful (imho) - not a polemic.
