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Publication Date: Nov. 4
Most people who study economics are introduced to a model which understands economic activity as based upon the constant desire of the "economic man" to maximize his welfare. As a result it is held that economic behavior can be reduced to a series of graphs in which supply and demand are brought into harmony. The economy is seen as akin to a gigantic machine. In this book Thomas Storck challenges this economic model in two ways. He points out that this understanding of economics fails to recognize the complexities of human behavior, and moreover insists that economic activity has a moral dimension based on the inherent purpose of the economy as something which is meant to serve society, not dominate it. Storck contrasts his approach with that of the late Nobel Prize winner in Economics, Paul Samuelson, and by means of frequent quotations from Samuelson the book becomes a lively dialogue between two fundamentally different approaches to understanding 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 Review
Bravo 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
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Thomas Storck is a member of the editorial board of The Chesterton Review and a contributing editor of New Oxford Review. He has a Bachelor of Arts from Kenyon College and a Master of Arts from St. John’s College, Santa Fe. He is the author of five previous books and translator of Cardinal Louis Billot’s Liberalism, A Critique of Its Basic Principles and Various Forms and editor of The Glory of the Cosmos both Arouca Press titles as well as, The Prosperity Gospel: How Greed and Bad Philosophy Distorted Christ's Teachings (TAN Books). Many of his essays and articles may be found on his website (www.thomasstorck.com)
