The Ethics and Economics Forum provides an opportunity for Seton Hall faculty from across the university to gather together to discuss matters of economic justice. On April 19, 2016, the Forum invited Dr. Paul Hoyt-O’Connor, Director of the Center for Undergraduate Fellowships and Research at George Washington University.
The Ethics and Economics Forum is sponsored by the Department of Religion and the Center for Catholic Studies’ Bernard J. Lonergan Institute and the Micah Institute for Business and Economics.
Dr. Hoyt-O’Connor provided an analysis of th eeconomic and political developments of the Basque Region of Spain through th elens of Bernard Lonergan’s work. Part of this discussion included the importance of cooperative enterprises in the Basque economy.
The Forum’s conversations on economic justice aim to take an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together faculty from various schools and departments across the university. The Forum is open to faculty presentation of ideas and suggestions.
The Ethics and Economics Forum website aims to provide resources for interdisciplinary study of economic justice as well as an online forum to promote discussion beyond the Forum’s regular meetings.
There is an approach to a more just economy that might be considered worthy of examination. It is not specifically theological, but neither is it ideological. Its ethical basis is “real justice” (mutual respect in interactions among human beings in the process of effecting all choices). That is a strictly rational approach to justice to replace ideology that is completely compatible with the teachings of Jesus. (Rationality does not compete with religion; ideology, being based on secular beliefs, does compete with religion.)
That ethic can be applied to the economy through a new and different monetary system. It would provide the economy with a supply of money in such a way that unemployment and poverty would be positively eliminated. Also, unlike the current system, that money would be supplied without involving debt. (Government would also be funded without using debt–or taxes.)