Caritas in Veritate II

Any economics student has read — some have memorized — Adam Smith’s view of what makes people in the marketplace tick:

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.”

In many cases, this may be a good approximation to how business people behave. But it’s important to take it for what it is: an approximation. As Benedict XVI reminds us in his recent encyclical,

“Gratuitousness is present in our lives in many different forms, which often go unrecognized because of a purely consumerist and utilitarian view of life.”

Have you realized how much a doctor, a teacher — and yes, even a baker — will do for you that goes beyond their “advantages” and “self-love”?

But if the homo economicus is a limited metaphor in understanding behavior (what economists refer to as positive analysis) it is even worse when it comes to prescribing behavior (what economists refer to as normative analysis).

This is where Benedict’s idea of gratuitousness comes in. It’s not that everything should be given away for free! Rather, it’s the idea that the economic relation is more than mere value exchange — it’s also a relation between two (or more) human beings where each one should remember that his or her role in life is to serve others — not in generic terms, but in the specific context of each encounter with others. Even in the marketplace.