Monthly Archives: June 2021

Announcing the Kirby Laing Centre’s Economics Research Hub

The Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology in Cambridge, UK, is launching an economics research hub, in cooperation with ACE-UK, that seeks to generate rigorous scholarship at the intersection of economics and theology with both contemporary application and Christian perspective. Hub members are expected to be committed to actively generating such scholarship, though the amount and types of contributions will certainly vary based on personal and professional constraints. To facilitate this scholarship, the Hub will provide opportunities for community, collaboration, and support among its members.

If you are interested in participating, please see the full description available here. All questions should be directed to Rob Tatum.

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Faith & Economics Issue 77 – Spring 2021

Faith & Economics
NUMBER 77, Spring 2021

Editor’s Introduction: Economic Justice
Steven McMullen

SYMPOSIUM: WHAT DOES A CHRISTIAN VISION FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE REQUIRE OF UNITED STATES POLICY REGARDING TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT SPENDING?

What Does the Lord Require? A Christian Perspective on Justice in Public Finance
John E. Anderson

Four Myths Concerning Taxation and Government Spending
Daniel K. Finn

Economic Justice and Jubilee
Enoch Hill

How Does a Catholic Approach to Social Questions Teach Us to Approach Federal Policy, Attitudinally?
Christina McRorie

BOOK REVIEWS

Wealth and Poverty in Early Christianity
Helen Rhee
Reviewed by Kurt C. Schaefer

The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
Joseph Henrich
Reviewed by Ross B. Emmett

The Making of a Democratic Economy: How to Build Prosperity for the Many, Not the Few
Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard
Reviewed by Jamin Hübner

In All Fairness: Equality, Liberty and the Quest for Human Dignity
Robert M. Whaples, Michael C. Munger, and Christopher J. Coyne
Reviewed by Walker Wright

God’s Good Economy: Doing Economic Justice in Today’s World
Andrew Hartropp
Reviewed by Steven McMullen

How Does a Catholic Approach to Social Questions Teach Us to Approach Federal Policy, Attitudinally?

Faith & Economics
NUMBER 77, Spring 2021

How Does a Catholic Approach to Social Questions Teach Us to Approach Federal Policy, Attitudinally?

Christina McRorie
Creighton University

Abstract: This essay approaches this panel’s question by asking what sort of attitude toward policy planning is encouraged by Catholic methods of social analysis. Specifically, it introduces the tradition of natural law ethics and the “See, Judge, Act” method at the heart of Catholic social thought, focusing on how these both teach us that our moral judgments rely on our fallible and finite interpretation of empirical reality, and are thus always provisional. This essay proposes that these methods demand both a flexibility and an attentiveness to marginalized communities that it is simply unrealistic to look for in federal policies. However, this essay does not conclude that this should be grounds for cynicism or Christian indifference with regard to taxation and public spending proposals. Rather, it suggests that we should advocate policies that we have reason to hope will promote justice with a posture of humility, holding our plans and economic theories lightly, and with a willingness to update our prudential judgments when necessary.

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Four Myths Concerning Taxation and Government Spending

Faith & Economics
NUMBER 77, Spring 2021

Four Myths Concerning Taxation and Government Spending

Daniel K. Finn
St. John’s University

Abstract:
Four “myths” handicap thinking about taxation among Christians. The first myth asserts that relying on the government to take care of the poor undermines the personal obligation that all Christians have to love their neighbor. Personal virtue is essential, but law is one important way a community insists on its moral standards, and law does shape moral character over time. The second myth is that US taxes are high. They are not. If total US taxes (national, state, and local) were increased to the average for OECD nations, each year we would have another $1.6 trillion (with a “t”) to do the many important things that government currently “can’t afford” to do. The third myth is that because the problems of the poor are rooted in the “culture of poverty,” government efforts “just make things worse.” But as University of Chicago economist James Heckman has demonstrated, quality preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-old children from poor families have lifelong effects that reduce time on welfare and in the criminal justice system and improve employment and the length of marriages. The fourth myth assumes that value-free economics alone can justify economic policy recommendations. Comparing the deadweight losses of different forms of taxation is inadequate for endorsing one tax over another. Just like the minimum wage law, each has both positive and negative effects and thus it takes a moral judgment to endorse any policy responsibly.

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