Is The Market Moral?: A Dialogue on Religion, Economics, and Justice

Is the Market Moral?r Rebecca M. Blank and William McGurn

Pew Forum Dialogues on Religion & Public Life
E.J. Dionne Jr., Jean Bethke Elshtain, Kayla Drogosz, Series Editors

Event: Is the Market Moral? A Dialogue on Religion, Economics & Justice (May 19, 2004)
Read about the Pew Forum Dialogues Series

Order the book

Save 20% with discount flyer

In the great tradition of moral argument about the nature of the economic market, Rebecca Blank and William McGurn join to debate the fundamental questions – equality and efficiency, productivity and social justice, individual achievement and personal rights in the workplace, the costs and benefits of corporate and entrepreneurial capitalism. And they do so grounded in both economic sophistication and religious commitment.

Rebecca Blank is an economist by training and describes herself as "culturally Protestant in the habits of mind and heart." She also chaired the committee that wrote the statement on Christian faith and economic life adopted by the United Church of Christ.

Addressing market failure, for her, requires that sometimes "freedom to choose" gives way to other human values. William McGurn, a journalist and Roman Catholic, uses his expertise in economics to reflect on the teachings of the church concerning the morality of the market. For McGurn, humans reach their fullest potential when they are free from the constraints of others. He writes, "our quarrel is not so much with Adam Smith or Milton Friedman but with the Providence that so clearly designed man to be his most prosperous at his most free."

This book grapples with the new imperatives of a global economy while working in the classic tradition of a political economy that always treated seriously the questions of morality, justice, productivity and freedom.

Rebecca M. Blank is dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. She was senior staff economist with the Council of Economic Advisers during the first Bush administration, and served as a member of the Council under President Clinton.

William McGurn is chief editorial writer and a member of the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. He has also held key positions for National Review and Far Eastern Economic Review.

The Dialogues are short volumes, published jointly by the Pew Forum and the Brookings Institution, that bring together the voices of scholars, journalists and activists engaged simultaneously in the religious and policy realms. These books will appeal to public policy specialists, university students, clergy, lay leaders, seminarians, members of religious congregations, and active citizens who regularly join in dialogue on public matters. Each volume is introduced by the series editors and consists of counterpoint essays, responses to each essay, and concluding reflections on current policy debates.