Economics

This could be retitled ""A Catholic Response to Paul Samuelson"" for it uses a common-sense approach to umpire the debate between what has come to be known as mainstream economics and the centuries old intellectual tradition of the Catholic Church applied to the marketplace. Thomas Storck thus provides a masterful presentation of the key Catholic contributors testing the persuasiveness of one of the great exponents of contemporary market economics. -Garrick Small, PhD., Discipline Leader, Economics, Finance and Property, Central Queensland University (Australia) The neoclassical playbook is riddled with assumptions about human behaviour and market outcomes in an attempt to portray economics as an objective science unblemished by biases or restrained by Divine Revelation. Economics: An Alternative Introduction challenges the conventions that continue to shape economic thought today, but it is more than a welcome detox from false notions about a self-correcting economy. Firmly planted in Catholic social doctrine, Thomas Storck's book is pedagogical for young people seeking answers when their natural inclinations to grow families, buy homes, or run small businesses are stifled by the prevailing economic order. Storck's textbook serves as the starting point for the faithful wishing to reconstruct the City of God in this post-Christian age. -Richard Aleman, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Distributist ReviewBravo Thomas Storck! This work reunites the fields of ethics, politics, and economics, sciences which used to be joined under the term ""political economy,"" but which now purports to be a value-free science. Mr. Storck shows us why this hasn't worked and, indeed, can't work. The section on usury is particularly important in understanding the ills which face our society. -John C. Médaille, author, Toward a Truly Free Market: A Distributist Perspective, The Vocation of Business: Social Justice in the Marketplace, Theology: Mythos or Logos?In Economics: An Alternative Introduction Thomas Storck gives a powerful presentation of the shortcomings in how basic economics is taught and understood in the modern world, the most egregious of which is neglect of the very human element that is the reason economic activity exists. This book should be read by everyone who wants to claim they have any understanding of economics. -David W. Cooney, editor, Practical Distributism, author, Distributism Basics: Foundational Principles