Mary Hirschfeld on Economics, Culture, and Aquinas and the Market

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2019

⏱️ 77 minutes

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Summary

Author, economist, and theologian Mary Hirschfeld of Villanova University talks about her book, Aquinas and the Market, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Hirschfeld looks at the nature of our economic activity as buyers and sellers and whether our pursuit of economic growth and material well-being comes at a cost. She encourages a skeptical stance about the ability of more stuff to produce true happiness and/or satisfaction. The conversation includes a critique of economic theory and the aspect of human satisfaction outside the domain of economists.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:08.0	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:12.6	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find
0:17.6	links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:20.5	We'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:24.8	back to 2006.
0:27.0	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:29.6	We'd love to hear from you.
0:31.0	Today is April 10th, 2019, and my guest is economist, the allotian and author, Mary Hirschfeld,
0:39.6	of Villanova University.
0:41.6	Mary and I both have PhDs in economics and both have become a little disenchanted with
0:46.3	the underlying framework of modern economics.
0:49.5	And I like to frame my disenchantment through the ideas of Adam Smith and Mary recently
0:55.8	to the ideas of Thomas Aquinas, the 13th century philosopher, theologian, and scholastic.
1:01.8	Today's conversation is going to be based on Mary's new book, Aquinas in the market,
1:06.6	toward a humane economy.
1:08.8	Mary, welcome to Econ Talk.
1:10.1	Thanks, Russ.
1:11.1	It's a real pleasure to be here.
1:13.2	In the standard economics paradigm, human beings try to maximize their well-being, often
1:18.6	called utility, the capital U, subject to the constraints of limited income.
1:24.8	What's wrong with that approach?
	...

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