CREDO Economists Headline Lumen Christi Conference

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The 6th Annual Lumen Christi Conference on Economics and Catholic Social Thought provoked a thoughtful discussion on conceptions of the human person within economics and theology, and CREDO members played an instrumental role in the conference. CREDO’s own Mary Hirschfeld (Villanova) gave the keynote address at the conference on April 1 at the University of Chicago, and she was joined by fellow CREDO member Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde (Penn), as well as Francis Cardinal George of Chicago, economist Rachel Kranton (Duke), and philosopher Russell Hittinger (Tulsa).

Cardinal George, in his last conference as acting Archbishop of Chicago, opened the event by emphasizing the importance of conversation between economists and bishops. He noted that past conversations were often difficult because of different anthropologies. …

Letter from the President – Second Issue

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Welcome to the second issue of our CREDO newsletter.  A great deal has happened since our last issue.

In the spring, Thomas Piketty’s book, Capital in the 21st Century became a New York Times bestseller, creating excitement, controversy and much discussion in the economics community but probably more so in the Church, media, and broader society.  The focus of the book is, of course, wealth and income inequality, and we have decided to give some focus to the issue in the current issue.  CREDO vice-president Jesus Fernandez Villaverde has contributed a thoughtful review of the book…

Bishop Oscar Cantu

Deep cuts to food assistance a moral scandal

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During Labor Day weekend we take time to reflect on what allows us to “put food on the table.”  In my line of work, as a pastor, I encounter people regularly who have to make difficult choices that no one should have to make: do I buy food or do I pay my rent?  Many of our churches, synagogues, schools and community centers try to lend a hand to families in need.  In many cases, the aid is appreciated but insufficient to get the family to a position of self-sufficiency.

It is during this time when so many Americans struggle to find work and put meals on the table that lawmakers in Washington are cutting a vital lifeline — food assistance — that protects vulnerable families from falling into poverty.  This is a moral scandal that betrays our nation’s best values and highest ideals. …

Fairness in the 21st Century

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After the score of reviews already written about Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century over the last few months, it is futile to rehearse the same arguments about the economics of the book yet one more time. Suffice it to refer the reader to the reviews of Debraj Ray, Larry Summers, or Per Krusell and Tony Smith. However, the readers of this newsletter may find of some interest to reflect not on the book itself, but on the reasons of its success and why those reasons point out to the challenges that Catholic economists need to address to help building a fair society in the twenty-first century. …

Inequality in Developing Countries: What Do We Know?

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In an April 28 2014 tweet, the Pope declared inequality to be “the root of social evil”.  Thomas Piketty’s book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century attracted considerable attention, particularly on this side of the Atlantic.  By presenting a number of facts on inequality over the past 200 years, it forcefully documents the almost-uninterrupted increase in the concentration of wealth that took place within the wealthiest nations.  An intense and often passionate debate ensued on what these facts meant for economic development in general and what policies were warranted.  While the countries included in Piketty’s analysis are exclusively the wealthiest ones, one wonders about the extent to which these observations and the broader lessons derived from them are applicable to the developing world (Milanovic 2014).