Catholic Social Teaching and the Market Economy Revisited: A Reply to Thomas Storck

Thomas Storck’s paper is unconvincing, to say the least. Its principal arguments rest on an incomplete or misleading portrayal of neoclassical economics, and the paper itself neglects the Austrian School of economics, to which many of its claims do not apply. No doubt the paper may give the novice the impression of having successfully identified flaws in mainstream economics, but it is no exaggeration to say that not a single neoclassical economist would recognize himself in Storck’s portrayal. There are plenty of good criticisms to be made of neoclassical economics, to be sure, but Storck either lacks the requisite knowledge or is too intent on caricature to find them. It retards rather than advances human knowledge to critique a position that no one would recognize as his own, but that, for whatever reason, is what Thomas Storck has chosen to do.