Pope Francis and the economists: has he misunderstood the market economy?

Pope Francis and the economists

by Alejandro Antonio Chafuen

The recent economic statements by Pope Francis in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (EG) read as a call for a “Third Way” economic system ruled by experts and people of good will. Pope Francis writes, “Growth in justice requires more than economic growth, while presupposing such growth: it requires de­cisions, programs, mechanisms and process­es specifically geared to a better distribution of income, the creation of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality.”

Pope Francis does not call for the socialization of the economic system and he does not point to any totalitarian country as a model. He states that this is “not a social document” and recommends the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church as a more substantial guide for study and reflection.

Nevertheless, as he did not include references to point 42 of John Paul II’s seminal encyclical Centessimus Annus, which legitimizes a free-enterprise system based on a rule of law respect of human dignity .....

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Has Pope Francis misunderstood

 the market economy?

by Philip Booth

In his first major document Evangelii Gaudium Pope Francis had harsh words for the trickle-down theory of economics, whereby the spending of the rich creates work and therefore wealth for those further down the financial chain. The Pope said it had simply led to a widening rich-poor gap and a ‘globalisation of indifference’. Here an economist examines his critique

Pope Francis had some dismissive things to say about the market economy and globalisation in his apostolic exhortation. Disappointingly, however, there was much use of the rhetorical tactic of knocking down straw men.

In one such example, the Pope criticised those who believe in the “absolute autonomy of markets”. 

• Nobody believes in the “absolute autonomy of markets”. 
• Markets are forums in which economic co-operation between human persons takes place in the context of institutions. 
• Markets can be restrained by the moral and ethical behaviour of those involved; by institutions that develop within markets themselves; by civil society; by culture; and by governments. 
• Markets cannot be autonomous – they are the creation of human persons, and human persons are reasoning acting beings rather than automatons. 

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