Jamaica, Queens, New York 11439

Dr. Joseph Burke

5050 Ave Maria Blvd

Ave Maria, FL  34142-9505

ph: 239-280-1613

fax: 239-280-1637

email: Joseph.Burke@avemaria.edu

 

 

Dr. Joseph Burke is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Ave Maria University. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May of 2005, where also received a minor in Computer Science. His dissertation was on trade in milk protein concentrate and its implications for the dairy industry. He began his current appointment in July of 2006. Dr. Burke teaches courses on micro- and macroeconomics, game theory, econometrics, industrial organization, the history of economic thought, and Catholic social teaching.

Panel Twenty-Two: Economics and Catholicism: II

Saturday, October 27, 2007

 

Benedict’s Reflections on Economics

Old Title: Benedict’s Reflections on the Economy

 

In this paper I synthesize Pope Benedict XVI’s thoughts on economic matters, drawing from his writings and speeches before and after his election to the Papacy. He is critical of both capitalism and Marxism, and in both he sees an attempt to construct a social order on reason alone, which is contrasted with a Catholic vision of the social order in which reason is united to virtue. Capitalism and Marxism suffer from disordered conceptions of liberty that ultimately lead to the oppression, which he describes as slavery in Marxism and alienation in capitalism. He is generally supportive of globalization, though he has reservations about its effects on families and on the poor.

 

Distributive Justice and Subsidiarity:

The Firm and the State in the Social Order

 

In this paper I discuss the concept of distributive justice used by Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas and the implications of this concept for the social order. This justice demands that the benefits and costs of a community be distributed among its members according to their positions in the community. Because this requires knowledge of the positions of the various members, the distribution of those benefits or costs in accord with distributive justice must be done by a person with such knowledge, who would ordinarily belong to that community. This suggests that the right to distribute the goods of a community belongs to that community and is thus connected to the principle of subsidiarity. Distributive justice and subsidiarity together imply that (1) a share of the profits should be distributed among the workers in order to satisfy distributive justice, and (2) the use of tax-and-transfer policies by the government to redistribute income is contrary to subsidiarity and the natural rights of the firm.