Redeeming Economics: Free Markets and the Human Person

480 Pages·2010·4.11 MB·English

by  John D. Mueller

Praise for Redeeming Economics
“The scope of Mueller’s intellectual ambition in this book is truly astonishing,
as is the scope of the research involved. . . . People should invest the time needed
to read, absorb, and promote this important book.”
—Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D., in The Family in America: A Journal of
Public Policy
“For years I’ve watched John Mueller combine markets with morality to help
fx what’s broken. Both Washington and Wall Street sorely need Redeeming Eco-
nomics.”
—Larry Kudlow, host of CNBC’s Kudlow and Company
“John Mueller is that rarest of thinkers and writers: one who can make the
‘dismal science’ thoroughly engaging at a very human level—a man who knows
his economics but never loses sight of people amidst a forest of data. Redeeming
Economics is sure to provoke cries of ‘I protest!’ from various sorts of economists,
and just as sure to demand some needed rethinking on everyone’s part.”
—George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public
Policy Center
“At the very least, John Mueller has written a bold, interesting, and thought-
provoking book. But he may have done much more. He may have written a
book that could fundamentally reground the discipline of economics and reori-
ent the study of political economy. Serious students and thoughtful practitio-
ners of both politics and economics need to read and refect upon this work.”
—William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard
“By restoring two millennia of lost economic theory and tracing its links with
sound economic policy, John Mueller’s Redeeming Economics should revolution-
ize the teaching and practice of political economy—not only in the United
States but in every national community dedicated to the authentic common
good.”
—Lewis E. Lehrman, cofounder of the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of Ameri-
can History, author of Lincoln at Peoria
“Redeeming Economics provides an original perspective on economics, one that is
soundly based in the work of three giants in the intellectual history of Western
civilization: Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas. Anyone with either a practical
or scholarly interest in economics would do well to take a close look at this
book.”
—Andrew V. Abela, chairman of the Department of Business and Eco-
nomics at the Catholic University of America
“Redeeming Economics achieves a double miracle: resurrecting the economic
insights of ancient and medieval thinkers, and making a mathematically rigor-
ous case that these deserve a central place in the policy debates of the present.
It’s hard to imagine a more important contribution to economic science.”
—Jeffrey Bell, director of policy for the American Principles Project
“An accurate knowledge of history is critical as we choose our future paths.
Redeeming Economics flls in many gaps in our collective understanding of the
history of economics. My father would have had this book by his chair as I do
now, and I hope our political leaders will as well.”
—James P. Kemp, president of the Jack Kemp Foundation
“Mueller turns popular economic myths on their heads. His book unearths a
forgotten piece of the puzzle that could prove to be the holy grail of modern
economics.”
—Edwin Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation
“At a time when economists around the world are reexamining the way we
think about economic decisions, Mueller presents an interesting and daring
way to understand the way we make economic decisions and solve the distribu-
tion problem notwithstanding the relational dimension of the human person.
Redeeming Economics is a great contribution and service to economic science. A
must read for all of us.”
—Maria Sophia Aguirre, associate professor of economics at the Catholic
University of America
“At a time as never before when the world turns to economics for advice and
wisdom, Redeeming Economics shows that all along there has been a hole in
economics’ soul. Mueller conclusively proves that giving and sharing—which
classical, neoclassical, and Marxist economics all consigned to the realm of the
‘noneconomic’—is no less than the very center of economic drive.”
—Brian Domitrovic, author of Econoclasts
“Economics and the relationships of humans need to be reintegrated. This is
the genius and passion of John Mueller. His book gives history, wholeness, and
hope to economics—and to our future.”
—Jeff Kemp, founder of Stronger Families, senior fellow at the Marriage and
Family Foundation
Redeeming economics
Culture of Enterprise series
Previously published:
Human Goods, Economic Evils:
A Moral Approach to the Dismal Science
Edward Hadas
Third Ways:
How Bulgarian Greens, Swedish Housewives, and
Beer-Swilling Englishmen Created Family-Centered Economies—
and Why They Disappeared
Allan C. Carlson
A Path of Our Own:
An Andean Village and Tomorrow’s Economy of Values
Adam K. Webb
Econoclasts:
The Rebels Who Sparked the Supply-Side Revolution
and Restored American Prosperity
Brian Domitrovic
Toward a Truly Free Market:
A Distributist Perspective on the Role of Government, Taxes, Health Care,
Defcits, and More
John C. Médaille
Redeeming economics
Rediscovering the Missing Element
John d. muelleR
Wilmington, Delaware
Copyright © 2010 by John D. Mueller
The Culture of Enterprise series is supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foun-
dation. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute gratefully acknowledges this support.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information
storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing
from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connec-
tion with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, broadcast, or online
publication.
Mueller, John D.
Redeeming economics : rediscovering the missing element / John D. Mueller.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-932236-94-1
1. Economics. 2. Economic history. 3. Natural law. I. Title.
HB171.M84 2010
330—dc22
2010022232
ISI Books
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
3901 Centerville Road
Wilmington, DE 19807-1938
www.isibooks.org
Manufactured in the United States of America
To my wife, Linda Mallon,
and my friend Lewis E. Lehrman,
who know that
“faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things unseen” (Hebrews 11:1).
contents
Introduction: Rediscovering the Missing Element in Economics 1
Part 1
The Birth, Death, and Resurrection of Economics
Chapter 1: Smithology and Its Discontents 11
Chapter 2: Scholastic Economics (c. 1250–1776) 17
Chapter 3: Classical Economics (1776–1871) 49
Chapter 4: Neoclassical Economics (1871–c. 2000) 77
Chapter 5: Neo-Scholastic Economics (c. 2000–) 107
Part 2
Personal Economy
Chapter 6: The “Mother’s Problem” and Augustine’s Solution 133
Chapter 7: The Success and Failure of Neoclassical Economics 155
Chapter 8: An Empirical Test: Fatherhood and Homicide 175
Chapter 9: The Moral Implications of Scarcity:
The Good Samaritan Paradigm 189
Part 3
Domestic Economy
Chapter 10: Marriage, the “First Natural Bond of
Human Society” 203
Chapter 11: Why Do Parents Give Children “Existence,
Rearing, and Instruction”? 231
Chapter 12: How Neo-Scholastic Economics Explains Our
Life Earnings and Spending 245
ix
x Contents
Part 4
Political Economy
Chapter 13: Saving America’s Infant Industry 275
Chapter 14: The Theory of American Public Choice 283
Chapter 15: Injustice in Exchange: Unemployment 303
Chapter 16: Injustice in Exchange: Infation 327
Part 5
Divine Economy
Chapter 17: The Three Worldviews 355
Notes 367

Acknowledgments 451
Index 453