The Church and the Market
I finished reading Thomas E. Woods, Jr., The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy on a recent plane trip. Lots of interesting stuff here and a very thorough defense of the free market. The argument is primarily of the following form:
We know that certain things are true about the world from economics. For example, we know that when prices go up, the quantity demanded goes down. If a church-endorsed policy will make the price of labor go up, we therefore know that the number of employed will go down. If the intent of the church endorsement of the policy is to help those seeking employment, we can therefore say that the endorsement is misguided.
This seems like a powerful critique in some respects but still missing a component. It is powerful because there are economic relationships that we do know about and, as Woods approvingly quotes Etienne Gilson, as a result "piety is no substitute for technique." Thus we ought to criticize as attempts to legislate "a living wage", for example, because such efforts will harm people (those who cannot find jobs) as well as help some (those with jobs who get higher pay). Moreover, we ought to point out these issues to church leaders who are opining on economic matters without understanding them. (A considerable portion of the book is a refutation of critics of free market economists for being bad Catholics for criticizing church pronouncements on economic matters).
The missing bit - and recommendations from readers are solicited - is a thorough exploration of the message of the Gospels for people in a market economy. (I'm not criticizing the book on this ground - it just isn't what Woods set out to do).
As I digest more of it, I will post additional thoughts.
We know that certain things are true about the world from economics. For example, we know that when prices go up, the quantity demanded goes down. If a church-endorsed policy will make the price of labor go up, we therefore know that the number of employed will go down. If the intent of the church endorsement of the policy is to help those seeking employment, we can therefore say that the endorsement is misguided.
This seems like a powerful critique in some respects but still missing a component. It is powerful because there are economic relationships that we do know about and, as Woods approvingly quotes Etienne Gilson, as a result "piety is no substitute for technique." Thus we ought to criticize as attempts to legislate "a living wage", for example, because such efforts will harm people (those who cannot find jobs) as well as help some (those with jobs who get higher pay). Moreover, we ought to point out these issues to church leaders who are opining on economic matters without understanding them. (A considerable portion of the book is a refutation of critics of free market economists for being bad Catholics for criticizing church pronouncements on economic matters).
The missing bit - and recommendations from readers are solicited - is a thorough exploration of the message of the Gospels for people in a market economy. (I'm not criticizing the book on this ground - it just isn't what Woods set out to do).
As I digest more of it, I will post additional thoughts.
Posted by Andy Morriss on
Tuesday November 1, 2005 at 9:17pm
Am looking forward to reading it as well