Five years ago, a Hungarian Dominican sister, Laura Sarolta Baritz, convinced the authorities of Sapientia Theology College in Budapest to set up a two year diploma in Catholic Social Thought and Economics. Having studied economics and worked in Pepsi Cola in Hungary before joining the sisters, she could see that after Communism, what was taking its place was a kind of oligopolistic capitalism, with the former Communist elites now being the winners in the “free” economy. Thus, the “KETEG” programme was born (KEresztény Társadalmi Elvek a Gazdaságban, Christian Social Principles in the Economy). From the beginning, the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Angelicum supported the initiative, as did the Corvinus University (the leading university for Economics in Hungary, formerly the Karl Marx University). Since those early days, much has developed. The various cohorts of students, for instance, have developed into a community of thinkers and activists. They are currently planning to set up a social enterprise and will be the main practical organisers of the first ever “Social Week” to be held in the Hungary in September 2013.

In April 2013, as in previous years, Sr Laura and the students of KETEG organized activities to promote the diploma and the wider diffusion of the ideas of Catholic  Social Thought in the economic sphere in Hungary. This year, they invited Fr Francesco Compagnoni and Sr Helen Alford from the Social Sciences Faculty in the Angelicum to come to give lectures in three public conferences and as part of the KETEG programme itself. They also invited Professor Stefano Zamagni, one of the key thinkers who influenced the most recent social encyclical, Caritas in veritate. The main focus of the conferences was to promote the Hungarian translation of the book of Luigino Bruni and Stefano Zamagni entitled “Civil Economy”. Here they show that, before Adam Smith, there was an earlier form of economic thought, civil economics, that focused on the pursuit of happiness and the common good as the aim of the economy. Later, this approach was supplanted by political economy, in which pursuing total and marginal utility becomes the purpose of economics. Given the kinds of problems that economic thought must resolve today, the revival of the civil economic approach is timely, as well as being more in accord with Catholic social thought than political economy. In Hungary, civil economics is almost completely unknown (the translators had to coin new words in Hungarian for terms like “public happiness”). This translation, therefore, represents a major contribution to economic and social thought in the country.

In the conferences to promote the Hungarian translation of the book, held at Sapientia Theologz College and Corvinus Universitz, Prof Zamagni discussed how the civil economic approach includes what is good in political economic thought, but goes beyond it. Utility is good, but it is not good enough; human beings search for happiness, not utility, and empirical research shows that happiness comes more from relationships with others than from having the utility that things can give us (Aristotle had already clarified the difference between happiness and utility millennia ago). Thus, civil economics includes the two basic principles of political economy: firstly, the exchange of equivalents (through markets, pricing mechanisms and so on), which, under certain conditions, creates efficient results, and, secondly, the need for redistribution of wealth (at the very least, to those too young, too old, too ill, or for other reasons, unable to participate directly in the economy). To these it adds a third principle: the need for reciprocity and the giving of gifts in the economy. Zamagni argues that this principle is necessary today because without it we cannot hope to solve two important economic problems: firstly, the crisis of the welfare state, and, secondly, the management of the commons. In the first case, we can only resolve today’s welfare problems by moving from the idea of a welfare state to that of a welfare society, where responsibility for the welfare of all is not only left to the state. In the second case, we cannot understand what common goods are, nor how to manage them, without a proper understanding of human relationships, reciprocity and gift-giving.

Fr Francesco Compagnoni and Sr Helen Alford added to Zamagni’s talks by commenting on how the idea of natural law, which is especially important in Dominican moral theology, could provide further material for reflection within economics. Fr Francesco concentrated on the connection between natural law and human rights, and on how respect for human rights can be a guide for good business conduct, especially on the global level, while Sr Helen focused on the connection between natural law and economics, using the thought of the Swiss-born member of the German Dominicans, Arthur Fridolin Utz, and between natural law and freedom, making especial use of the thought of the Belgian Dominican, Servais Pinckaers, and the English Dominican, Herbert McCabe.

It was particularly significant to see how well the three speakers were received in Corvinus University. It is clear that Sr Laura and the KETEG programme have been working hard with Corvinus, to help build the basis for effective cooperation, and it is encouraging to see economists who are really open to receiving ideas from the tradition of Christian social thought that could help them in resolving their problems. Furthermore, as on previous occasions when lecturers from the Angelicum have been invited to speak at Sapientia and Corvinus, we were impressed by how attentive and thoughtful the students are, staying long after the lectures have finished to ask questions so as to understand as deeply as possible what the lecturer has been saying. The KETEG programme is an important centre of excellence for the whole former Communist bloc, and the Social Sciences Faculty at the Angelicum is very happy to be associated with supporting this key programme for the Church in that region.

To learn more about KETEG: www.keteg.hu

To learn more about the Social Sciences Faculty at the Angelicum, www.scienze-politiche.org