Winning Ideas: Lessons from Free-Market Economics for the Economics of Francesco

Abstract

As Pope Francis observes in Evangelii Gaudium, “realities are greater than ideas.” We should neither underestimate the power of ideas to engage realities, nor expect good theory to win out swiftly by force of argument alone. The rise of free-market economics was in part due to the conscious strategic decisions made by key intellectuals and financiers—decisions which moved it from the periphery to the centre of economic theory and practice. This chapter argues that the means by which free-market approach economics overtook its rivals offer important lessons for those working on alternative economic approaches today. We identify five strategies that were used by free-marketeers and which have lessons for those of us who now to develop and promote integrated human development and an “economics of Francesco”.