Aquinas and the Market: Toward a Humane Economy

by Mary L. Hirschfeld

Economists and theologians usually inhabit different intellectual worlds. Economists investigate the workings of markets and tend to set ethical questions aside. Theologians, anxious to take up concerns raised by market outcomes, often dismiss economics and lose insights into the influence of market incentives on individual behavior. Mary L. Hirschfeld, who was a professor of economics for fifteen years before training as a theologian, seeks to bridge these two fields in this innovative work about economics and the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas.

According to Hirschfeld, an economics rooted in Thomistic thought integrates many of the insights of economists with a larger view of the good life, and gives us critical purchase on the ethical shortcomings of modern capitalism. In a Thomistic approach, she writes, ethics and economics cannot be reconciled if we begin with narrow questions about fair wages or the acceptability of usury. Rather, we must begin with an understanding of how economic life serves human happiness. The key point is that material wealth is an instrumental good, valuable only to the extent that it allows people to flourish. Hirschfeld uses that insight to develop an account of a genuinely humane economy in which pragmatic and material concerns matter but the pursuit of wealth for its own sake is not the ultimate goal.

The Thomistic economics that Hirschfeld outlines is thus capable of dealing with our culture as it is, while still offering direction about how we might make the economy better serve the human good.

Genres: Economics, Philosophy, Religion, Theology, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

Published November 26, 2018

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super fascinating inter-disciplinary approach bringing economic analysis and Thomistic moral philosophy into conversation. While the book pursues the economic question well, it is also an excellent survey of Thomistic ethics and the nature of virtue as directed toward beatitude in God. Esoteric at times, but very good.

[Jared Mindel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of the best books I've ever read. Recommended reading for anybody interested either in economics, theology, or philosophy, and necessary reading for those interested in all. Hirschfeld articulately describes the problems with economics that the average man implicitly knows, but economists are wont to ignore. Viewing rationality in terms of consumption bundles and utility curves, equating happiness with preference satisfaction, and focusing almost entirely on models that assume total insatiable desires has really hurt economics as a series of thought.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

some of the argument gets a little obscure for non-economists who aren't necessarily interested in the debates amongst specific specialists, but there's a lot here for people from other fields too. its proposing an alternative way of thinking about human economic behavior instead of the rational choice model, which has been shown to hide some pretty unethical reasoning. I interpreted it as a call to integrate economics back within the humanities, understanding the predictive mathematical models are very helpful but need to be tethered to conversations about human ends.

[Michael Baranowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a great deal of respect for Aquinas as a philosopher and theologian, but I've never considered his economic thought and how it might apply to modern society. It turns out that despite writing well before the dawn of industrialization and capitalism, Aquinas does in fact have a lot of relevance in considering what a more humane economy might look like. And even if one doesn't believe in Aquinas' God, much of his thought can still be applied.

[Bill Hauk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done! Prof. Hirschfeld does an excellent job of illuminating the differences between a scholastic approach to the economy with the neoclassical one, without creating the strawmen typical of the genre.

[Christina “6 word reviewer” Lake]

Aquinas against rational choice model—smart!

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful. The author is both an economist and a theologian. So follies on both sides are avoided.

[Toni Marcheva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Many of Hirschfeld's comments felt very in line with unspoken thoughts I have had as an economist. But others were a gut punch...economists should be humble about what their models can say? Really? I'll be thinking about this one for a while. And maybe also rethinking my dissertation.

[Timothy Puszczewicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I've read for a while. Great to see how Catholics should think about the economy as a means to an end. Uses Aquinas' metaphysics and philosophy to explain where economists go wrong, but without completely demonising the whole field.

[Francisco Ruela · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book at the intersection of economics and theology - sadly the economics and perception of economics is rooted in the 80s

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hirschfeld has taken an impossibly unlikely journey, which has produced the novel analysis and ideas that make Aquinas and the Market an incredible gift to the world. Hirschfeld's Havard Economics training is obvious in her exposition and critique of economic models of human behavior and her analysis of it as describing a lower form of human rationally (nonetheless still valuable in certain circumstances). Using indispensable and underappreciated insights from Thomas Aquinas, Hirschfeld articulates clearly a higher form of meta-rationality. This presents a challenge to economists to find ways to incorporate these insights into their models. More importantly, it expands the mind of the reader by shattering the belief that "utility" can be simplistically collapsed into a scalar and that our objective is and should be to maximize this measure of material wellbeing subject to the constraints of time and money. Instead, the book illuminates the pernicious effects for individuals and society of this way of thinking and offers a new perspective on what constitutes true human flourishing, happiness, and meta-rationality, which are not the object of a constrained maximization problem but rather are achieved by cultivating a higher form of prudence in our reflections, decisions, and behaviors.

[Jeff Wang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Hirschfeld masterfully connects two very broad and dense disciplines of economics and theology. This book is beautifully written with just the right amount of economic and theological jargon that both experts (in either field) or complete beginners can understand. The research done for this book is extensive and granted you can see from the diverse citations used (at end of the book). Truly, this is a book that economists and philosophers/theologians alike should pick up, as the topics discussed are quite apparent in modern society (and surely for future generations) in how we can strive towards happiness and a humane economy.