Christian Anthropology and the Theory of the Firm

Abstract

Catholic social thought (CST), a branch of moral theology, reflects Christian anthropology (an understanding of human nature that draws on Revelation and natural law theory). CST's understanding of what communities (such as the corporation) are for and how they can best achieve their ends are coloured by its anthropological underpinnings. The same, it is argued, is true for economic theories such as the theories of the firm based on Coase. This paper compares Christian anthropology with the implicit anthropology underpinning some of the dominant economic theories of the firm. Differences at this level go a long way to explaining mismatches between CST's vision of the corporation as a community of persons and some of the economic theories of the firm built on Coasean foundations.

Keywords: Catholic social thought, natural law, theory of the firm

JEL Classification: A12, A13, K00