Abstract
This Article examines whether the Catholic Church’s social teaching has something to tell antitrust scholars and masters of competition policy. Although papal encyclical letters and other documents are not meant to provide an analytical framework giving clear answers to complex competition questions, this does not mean that these thoughts cannot benefit businessmen, scholars, and policy makers. The Vatican teaching helps us remember that business and morality do not belong to two different worlds, and that markets should serve the whole Man. It acknowledges the positive role of free markets,that is, the exercise of economic freedom as being an important part of human dignity, yet warns that competition can be preserved only if it is curbed both by moral and statutory rules. It is certainly not easy to find a balance between the commandments to “love your neighbor” and “not collect treasure on earth.” I argue that either antitrust law or other forms of self- or government regulation should prohibit market conduct that undermines business virtues.
First Page
583
Recommended Citation
Tihamer
Toth,
Is There a Vatican School for Competition Policy?,
46
Loy. U. Chi. L. J.
583
(2015).
Available at:
https://lawecommons.luc.edu/luclj/vol46/iss3/10