Correcting Pope Francis…Again

By Dan Mitchell.

"While I generally don’t think recycling is economically sensible, I am going to reuse this 2013 BBC interview because it’s time (again) to criticize the economic illiteracy of Pope Francis.

As I’ve previously explained, it’s good to care for the less fortunate. Indeed, as I explain in the interview, it’s part of being a good person.

It’s misguided, however, to think that higher taxes and bigger government are an effective way of lifting people out of poverty.

Indeed, we have centuries of evidence demonstrating that only capitalism produces mass prosperity.

Sadly, Pope Francis has a Peronist mindset on economic matters. So when he issues his thoughts on economic matters, we get erroneous cliches rather than helpful analysis.

A story from the Associated Press summarizes the Pope’s new attack on economic liberty.

Pope Francis says…the “magic theories” of market capitalism have failed and that the world needs a new type of politics that promotes dialogue and solidarity… The document draws its inspiration from…the pope’s previous preaching on the injustices of the global economy. “…not everything can be resolved by market freedom,” he wrote. …As an outgrowth of that, Francis rejected the concept of an absolute right to property for individuals… He repeated his criticism of the “perverse” global economic system, which he said consistently keeps the poor on the margins while enriching the few… Francis also rejected “trickle-down” economic theory… “Neo-liberalism simply reproduces itself by resorting to magic theories of ‘spillover’ or ‘trickle’ — without using the name — as the only solution to societal problems,” he wrote. “There is little appreciation of the fact that the alleged ‘spillover’ does not resolve the inequality.

And here’s how NPR reported the Pope’s anti-market message.

The document..is a scathing description of laissez faire capitalism… Once the pandemic passes, the pope writes, “our worst response would be to plunge even more deeply into feverish consumerism and new forms of egotistic self-preservation.” …Francis says the marketplace cannot resolve every problem, and he denounces what he describes as “this dogma of neoliberal faith” that “resort[s] to the magic theories of ‘spillover’ or ‘trickle.’ ” A good economic policy, he says, creates jobs — it doesn’t eliminate them.

The Pope is right that good policy creates jobs, by the way, but he’s wildly wrong to think that there’s a better alternative than capitalism.

For what it’s worth, I’m guessing that he doesn’t like the fact that capitalism means “creative destruction,” which does result in millions of jobs being eliminated every year. But, barring a recession, that same process also leads to the creation of an even greater number of new jobs.

Equally important, this is the process that results in higher productivity, higher wages, and higher living standards.

The bottom line is that a statist economic agenda – at best – offers the poor a life of dependency (especially when you consider the very high implicit marginal tax rates created by redistribution programs).

Capitalism, by contrast, gives the poor opportunity and upward mobility (as I noted a few years ago, it would be much better to be a poor person in Hong Kong than in France).

P.S. I strongly recommend what Thomas Sowell and George Will wrote about the Pope’s anti-market ideology.

P.P.S. Mauritius is a powerful example of why the Pope is very fallible on economic matters."