Markets Both Serve and Reflect Societies

By Neil Jordan

An interesting example of market transformation can be seen in the growth of worldwide spending on beauty products, which reached $440bn in 2024. There are various trends (or pressures) at work, with men now feeling freer to spend on beauty products and demand growing among young people, who are purchasing (...)

AI and the Future of Higher Learning, Think Tanks and Universities

By Philip Booth

In his Nobel Prize lecture, Ronald Coase said: ‘a large part of what we think of as economic activity is designed to accomplish what high transaction costs would otherwise prevent’. Think of the retail sector, for example. Its sole function is to reduce transactions costs – not to produce anything tangible. (...)

Stop Giving AI Powers it Doesn’t Have

By Andrei Rogobete

Anthropomorphising AI is rhetorically seductive but intellectually unsound. We must remember that the analogy between artificial intelligence and human intelligence is a distant one.  Otherwise, we risk conflating computer systems with human-like agents and automation with autonomy. The anthropomorphisation of artificial intelligence – i.e. the attribution of human characteristics, intentions, (...)

The Distinctiveness of Christian Ethics

By Andrew Baughen

Before the torrent of games available on your phone, a popular game in magazines was ‘spot the difference’. It’s amusing to play and realise that often we don’t immediately spot all the differences even when we stare at both pictures intently. But I wonder if the same issue arises in (...)

A Guide to Rerum Novarum, Part Three

By Philip Booth

The Protection of Workers, Unions and the Duties of Employers This is a repost of an article originally published on the Catholic Social Teaching blog of St Mary’s University (https://catholicsocialthought.org.uk/).  Part I, Part II In this final part of the encyclical, the treatment and protection of the working class is (...)

A Guide to Rerum Novarum, Part Two

By Philip Booth

The Church, the Family, the State and the Use of Riches We ended Part One of this guide to Rerum novarum with the encyclical’s reminder to the rich that they would have to answer to God if they were not generous with their riches. The focus of that first part was (...)

Back to Budget Basics

By Philip Booth

Back to Budget Basics Providing Christian commentary on the recent budget is not especially easy. There was a measure to remove the two-child cap on Universal Credit payments that was welcomed by many Christians. But the rest of the budget was really a collection of bits and pieces with many (...)

A Guide to Rerum Novarum, Part One: The Political Context and the Right to Property

By Philip Booth

This is a repost of an article originally published on the Catholic Social Teaching blog of St Mary’s University (https://catholicsocialthought.org.uk/). Historical Context Upon his election, Pope Leo XIV said that he was inspired to take the name ‘Leo’ by Pope Leo XIII’s work on Catholic social teaching. The newly-elected pope (...)

Ethics, Economics and the Environment

By Philip Krinks

Environmental sustainability is a central challenge for humanity. In areas of the United Kingdom water has been rationed in two of the last four years, partly because we have not managed to build a major reservoir for over 30 years. Not only greenfield, but also brownfield land on which housing (...)

Neil Jordan: Welfare, Government Support and the Good

It has been reported that executives within the motor industry have expressed frustration at the Chancellor’s intention to end the provision of luxury cars through the Motability scheme, which assists those in receipt of disability benefits with funding to lease a new vehicle. Motability itself is a private company and (...)

Philip Krinks: Working People

You may work, but are you a working person? This might just sound like an annoying exam question: probably one from the exams once sat by CEME’s philosophers and theologians, rather than by our economists. In fact it now appears to be crucial. It could determine your, and Britain’s, prosperity. (...)