In the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, Catholic theologians, many of whom were members of the Society of Jesus, studied the intersection of morality and expanding commerce. Jesuits including Juan de Mariana, Luis de Molina, and Leonardus Lessius explored the ethics of money, economics, and trade. In his famous History of Economic Analysis, the distinguished economist and historian of economic ideas, Joseph Schumpeter, described many of these Jesuits’ insights as anticipating similar ideas expressed by Adam Smith two centuries later. The Jesuits contributed greatly to the development of modern market economies and we can continue to explore and benefit from their insights today.
On Wednesday, 29 November 2017, the Acton Institute and the Pontifical Gregorian University’s Faculty of History and Cultural Heritage of the Church held an afternoon conference in Rome on Globalization, Justice, & the Economy: The Jesuit Contribution at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
You can watch a video of the event below:
