Just Wages: A comparison between the views of traditional economic theory and the Catholic Social Doctrine

This thesis deals with comparing the views of the main economic stream (represented mainly by the neo-classical) with Catholic social teaching on the issue of just wages. In Catholic social teaching, this matter is explicitly analyzed in contrast to the neoclassical theory which omits it. For this reason, in order to compare views of those two different schools of thought, the work focuses on the relationship of normative and positivist science, the hidden assumptions of neoclassical theory that concern the individual and the concept of work, her understanding of justice with regard to distribution, and the theory of minimum wages. Further work analyzes the paradigms and principles of Catholic social teachings related to just wages, which are rooted in the teachings of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. This study examines the compatibility and difference in the two schools of thought not only in respect to the issue of just wages, but also juxtaposes the roots of the various assumptions of both theories. Title: Just Wages: A comparison between the views of traditional economic theory and the Catholic Social Doctrine Author: Tomáš Bořil Author's e-mail: tobo[at]email[dot]cz Supervisor: PhDr. Tomáš Vyhnánek Academic year: 2010/2011 JEL Classification: D630, D310, E240 Keywords: Just wage, Catholic..