Cathonomics: A Review Article

In Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create A More Just Economy, Anthony Annett provides an account of Catholic social teaching, mainly encapsulated in papal encyclicals from 1891 to the present day, as a value system for economic policy-making in the contemporary world. He argues that values and ethical principles embedded in Catholic social teaching are a better basis for economic policy than the frameworks of “neoclassical” or “neoliberal” economics, with respect to goals such as human rights, inequality and environmental protection. This review evaluates Annett’s arguments in the context of other approaches to providing moral foundations for economic policy, and with respect to the state of current economic thinking. It also considers issues embedded in the difference between “religious economics” and the “economics of religion,” the role of religious reasons in public policy, and underlying conditions of power.