Pope Benedict on markets and justice (Caritas in Veritate, para. 35):
In a climate of mutual trust, the market is the economic institution that permits encounter between persons, inasmuch as they are economic subjects who make use of contracts to regulate their relations as they exchange goods and services of equivalent value between them, in order to satisfy their needs and desires. The market is subject to the principles of so-called commutative justice, which regulates the relations of giving and receiving between parties to a transaction. But the social doctrine of the Church has unceasingly highlighted the importance of distributive justice and social justice for the market economy, not only because it belongs within a broader social and political context, but also because of the wider network of relations within which it operates. In fact, if the market is governed solely by the principle of the equivalence in value of exchanged goods, it cannot produce the social cohesion that it requires in order to function well. Without internal forms of solidarity and mutual trust, the market cannot completely fulfil its proper economic function. And today it is this trust which has ceased to exist, and the loss of trust is a grave loss. It was timely when Paul VI in Populorum Progressio insisted that the economic system itself would benefit from the wide-ranging practice of justice, inasmuch as the first to gain from the development of poor countries would be rich ones[90]. According to the Pope, it was not just a matter of correcting dysfunctions through assistance. The poor are not to be considered a “burden”[91], but a resource, even from the purely economic point of view. It is nevertheless erroneous to hold that the market economy has an inbuilt need for a quota of poverty and underdevelopment in order to function at its best. It is in the interests of the market to promote emancipation, but in order to do so effectively, it cannot rely only on itself, because it is not able to produce by itself something that lies outside its competence. It must draw its moral energies from other subjects that are capable of generating them.
This passage sets up an important contrast between “markets within a moral framework” and “markets as a moral framework.” Most “conservative” pundits today suggest that “markets” are the most moral form of economic structure because markets preserve individual liberty. It is true that individual liberty is an important value, and that free markets emody that value. However, that is not the end of the story, pace the conservative / libertarian wags. A truly Christian vision of the good society recognizes that individual liberty is only one virtue within a broader constellation of virtues. “The greatest of these is love,” St. Paul said (1 Cor. 13:13). Markets are only “moral” when liberty is governed by love.
3 replies on “Caritas in Veritate: Markets and Justice”
Yes! This is a very good analysis. Free-market capitalism, outside of widespread virtues that it does not produce itself, will result in sizable injustices, perhaps increasing ones, just as with other systems. They just don’t come as quickly or glaringly as when power is put into the hands of a few from the start, as in alternative systems.
I’ll have to do some reading of your old posts. Any favorites to recommend?
Hey T thanks for stopping in! Check out my “epistemology” category — done lots of writing on that: http://www.tgdarkly.com/blog/?cat=15
@David Opderbeck Will do. I wonder how much we have in common there just by virtue of immersion in the legal profession. Also, how do you want to be addressed at JCreed, now that I know you’re first name?–David or dopderbeck? Your preference is my preference.