An economist's review of the Pope's Encyclical Letter
The Pope's letter on the economy didn't create a big splash. Perhaps that's because it didn't say anything new. The Archbishop of Canterbury's remarks on the economy at General Convention garnered a similar reaction from the press -- that is, very little.
Tyler Cowen on the Pope's letter:
A truly revolutionary document would have dealt with the rise of China and India. Though Western society has experienced a widespread secularization, our versions of capitalism and democracy are still based squarely on Christian ideas, and I believe this marriage of liberalism and Christianity has been for the better. China and India, despite each having some number of Christians, have no realistic prospects for a comparable ideological accommodation between morals and markets, and so we are entering uncharted waters.Read it all.How will the rise of non-Christian powers affect the practice of capitalism? Will Christian and non-Christian societies understand each other well enough to negotiate successful international agreements? To what extent will Europe even manage to stay Christian? By some accounts Islam is the most frequently practiced religion in the Netherlands today.
You'll search this encyclical in vain for answers to these questions or even for a framing of their import. To consider such questions would be to admit that Christianity, and Catholicism, are not as universal as many people would like them to be. When the church comes to terms with that idea, maybe then we'll start seeing some intellectual progress.
Cowen, by the way, is pro/non -- a pro-religion non-believer.
