Social Doctrine and Economics: What Dialogue?

Abstract

This article aims to examine the possibility of a dialogue between the social morality of the Catholic Church and economic science. First, it asks whether such a dialogue is possible and discusses the reasons why it appears desirable. Second, it presents several economic theories and their anthropological implications: the centrally planned economy characteristic of the Marxist or pure socialist system; neoclassical economics, which derives from Adam Smith’s moral philosophy; the neo-Keynesian economics of the followers of John Maynard Keynes, which advocates significant state intervention in economic development; and finally, the Austrian School of economics, which strongly emphasizes the need for greater personal freedom in the economic sphere. The third part of the study outlines a framework for dialogue between the two disciplines. This framework is shaped by the distinction between economic means and ethical ends, as well as by the distinction between what is basic and what is important for the development of the human person. From this framework emerge four key concepts that have been present throughout the teachings of the Magisterium: the organization of material goods, social justice, human labor, and the divine vocation of the economic agent. By way of conclusion, the article considers the positions of civil economy and other proposals that the Magisterium has addressed with particular interest in recent years.