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Pillar

Business & Economics

The fifth pillar, business and economics, is built upon concern for the common good and the ways in which the economic order contributes to—or detracts from—human flourishing. Public Discourse examines the ways in which the market is shaped by—and gives shape to—our understanding of the human person, the role of the family, the rule of law, and education and culture.

The War on Poverty at Fifty: How to Craft Policy to Help America’s Poor

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Public Discourse

Public Debt, Political Paralysis, and the West

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The West’s struggle with high public debt highlights the inertia and indecision of both governments and citizens in the face of difficult economic choices.
Public Discourse

The Value of Children: Economics, Faith, and the Problem of Underpopulation

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The overpopulation crisis predicted by Malthusians has failed to materialize. Instead, developed nations face serious underpopulation. To solve this problem, we must rediscover the importance of children.
Public Discourse

Catholicism, Capitalism, and Caritas: The Continuing Legacy of Michael Novak

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In a time of intense debate about global capitalism and the power of economic elites, Michael Novak’s work is essential reading for those who seek to work for free and virtuous societies. Novak’s life is also a lesson in charity.
Public Discourse

The Legacy of John Nash and His Challenge to Homo Economicus: Why Now Is a Good Time to Study Economics

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Economics takes for granted the problematic view that everyone acts in their self-interest, and that this is the best way of understanding the world. The latest research within the discipline is, however, transforming these fundamental assumptions.
Public Discourse

The Fall of Fertility: How Redefining Marriage Will Further Declining Birthrates in the United States

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Redefining marriage undermines the ties between marriage and procreation. This will contribute to already declining fertility rates in the United States as marriage rates drop and marriage becomes even more adult-centric in meaning and function. The consequences to the economy and society will be harmful and multifaceted.
Public Discourse

Bureaucratic Bloat in Higher Education: Getting Rid of the Middle Men

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When college administrators fancy themselves businessmen selling “information delivery systems,” students suffer.
Public Discourse

Poverty, the Rule of Law, and Human Flourishing

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If we want to be coherent when addressing poverty, our concerns can’t be rooted in emotivist or relativistic accounts of who human beings are. They must be founded on recognition of each person’s freedom, rationality, and dignity.
Public Discourse

Connecting Religious and Economic Liberty

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New data suggest that countries that value and protect religious liberty offer fertile soil for economic liberty to flourish.
Public Discourse

Life to the Full: The Dangers of Material Wealth and Spiritual Poverty

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In helping developing countries to increase their economic prosperity, we must remember that human welfare cannot be reduced to material realities.
Public Discourse

Jewish Praise of Truett Cathy: Chick-fil-A Founder and Sabbath Observer

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In a society in which the profit motive tends to make all other interests subordinate to the almighty dollar, Chick-fil-A’s founder declared that the store would not be open on the Sabbath.
Public Discourse

Obamacare: Text and Intention

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Confronted with its legislative weaknesses, defenders of Obamacare are appealing to the law’s intent instead of its text. This is a dangerous approach that the founders clearly rejected.
Public Discourse

The Blessings of Liberty and the Index of Culture and Opportunity

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Opportunity is not merely the absence of artificially imposed impediments. It is also the capacity to pursue happiness, individually and in community. Adapted from the 2014 Index of Culture and Opportunity.
Public Discourse

Religious Liberty and Economic Freedom: Intellectual and Practical Paradoxes

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The role of economic liberty in contributing to human flourishing and the common good remains deeply underappreciated, even by those who are dedicated to religious liberty.
Public Discourse

Just Inflation

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A low but predictable inflation rate is sound, just policy.
Public Discourse

Just Money

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If a society regards governmental manipulation of money as the antidote to economic challenges, a type of poison will work its way through the body politic, undermining justice and the common good.
Public Discourse

Covetous Envy: The Forgotten Deadly Sin

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Modern rhetoric of income inequality is driven by covetous envy that betrays America’s tradition of applauding those who succeed. Caritas, humility, gratitude, and goodwill toward others are a healthy society’s answer to the ancient curses of envy and pride.
Public Discourse

The Culture of Dishonesty: Abortion, Divorce, and Obamacare

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Americans’ acceptance of President Obama’s lies reveals how dangerously comfortable we have become with dishonesty. It will take a profound renovation of our culture to restore truthfulness to its proper place and establish political freedom on a more secure foundation.
Public Discourse

A Moral Basis for Markets: A Response to James Stoner

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All truly voluntary exchange should be allowed without state interference. But many exchanges that are not fully voluntary should be allowed, too. It is immoral to restrict the ability of market processes to create a space where right action is rewarded and immoral actions are punished.
Public Discourse

Is There a Moral Basis for the Free Market?

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The morality of the market, important as it is in a free society, is not the only kind of morality that matters in common life.
Public Discourse

We Need a Real Women’s Agenda, Not Government-Funded Abortion

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By passing HR 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, Congress could settle the matter of federal funding for abortion once and for all, and start addressing the real needs of American women. Adapted from testimony delivered before the House Judiciary Committee on January 9, 2014.
Public Discourse

Theology, Anthropology, and Economics

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Every economic system is based upon an implicit vision of the human person. Maciej Zieba’s new book provides an introduction to Catholic social thought that examines the anthropologies of Catholicism, liberal democracy, and the free-market economy.
Public Discourse

Why Max Weber Was Wrong

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The association of Protestantism with capitalism, famously articulated by Max Weber and now widely accepted by many, is theologically dubious, empirically disprovable, and largely incidental. An edited excerpt from Gregg's new book, Tea Party Catholic.
Public Discourse

A Modest Balanced Budget Proposal

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Constitutional amendments requiring Congress to pass a balanced budget are unrealistic and doomed to fail. It would be more effective to combat deficit spending by requiring the president to submit a balanced budget.
Public Discourse

Memo from Paul Ryan to Georgetown Faculty: Ever Heard of a Tea Party Catholic?

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In most cases, Catholic social teaching provides the correct principles for resolving complex social and economic questions, not specific policy requirements. Nathan Shlueter reviews Sam Gregg’s new book in the voice of Paul Ryan.
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