Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T08:36:47.792Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE ECONOMICS OF BERNARD LONERGAN: CONTEXT, MODELING, AND ASSESSMENT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2022

Paul Oslington Open the ORCID record for Paul Oslington [Opens in a new window]
Paul Oslington*
Affiliation:
Professor of Economics, Alphacrucis College, Sydney, Australia. Honorary Professor, PACT Charles Sturt University. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bernard Lonergan S.J. (1904–1984) is unusual among major theologians in engaging deeply with economic theory. In the 1940s he developed his own dynamic multisectoral macroeconomic model, informed by readings of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, Friedrich Hayek, Joseph Schumpeter, and later Michal Kalecki. Lonergan’s economic research is little known because the economic manuscripts were not published in his lifetime and his interactions with professional economists were limited. In the 1970s, however, when he returned to economics he engaged with post-Keynesians and taught a graduate course on macroeconomics at Boston College until illness overtook him. This paper places Lonergan’s economic research in the context of his overall intellectual project, outlines his macroeconomic model and associated theory of the business cycle, then evaluates his contribution in relation to mid-twentieth-century macroeconomics and considers whether it has anything to offer contemporary economists. Whatever view we take of his theoretical contributions, Lonergan’s work opens up connections between economics and theology.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , June 2022 , pp. 182 - 204
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the History of Economics Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This paper is part of a project, “Transdisciplinary Vision of Bernard Lonergan: Theology, Economics and Finance,” supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. I have gained much from discussion with other members of the research group, which met at Australian Catholic University to discuss Lonergan’s economics. Thanks to archivists at Regis College University of Toronto and the Lonergan Archive at Marquette University for assistance with Lonergan’s papers. I am especially grateful for discussions and comments from Neil Ormerod, John Ormerod, Peter Madden, Geoff Fishburn, John Nevile, and Graham White. While I am grateful for the discussions, none of the above necessarily share the views expressed in this paper.

References

REFERENCES

Bidard, Christian, and Erreygers, Guido. 2016. “Faith and Economics: Maurice Potron, Pioneer of Input-Output Analysis.” Cahiers d’économie Politique / Papers in Political Economy 71 (2): 91–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bidard, Christian, Erreygers, Guido, and Parys, Wilfred. 2009. “Our Daily Bread: Maurice Potron, from Catholicism to Mathematical Economics.” European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 16 (1): 123–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brunnermeier, Markus K., and Parker, Jonathan A.. 2005. “Optimal Expectations.” American Economic Review 95 (4): 1092–1118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, Patrick. 2011. “‘Aiming Excessively High and Far’: The Early Lonergan and the Challenge of Theory in Catholic Social Thought.” Theological Studies 72 (3): 620–644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, Patrick. 2018. “Starting Economics: Again.” Journal of Macrodynamic Analysis 11.Google Scholar
Byrne, Patrick. 2010. “The Economy: Mistaken Expectations.” Lonergan Review 2 (1): 10–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collier, Jane. 1990. The Church and the Culture of Economism. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Crowe, Frederick E. 1992. Lonergan. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.Google Scholar
Docherty, Peter. 2005. Money and Employment: A Study of the Theoretical Implications of Endogenous Money. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Dow, Sheila. 1996. The Methodology of Macroeconomic Thought. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Eichner, Alfred S., ed. 1979. A Guide to Post-Keynesian Economics. NewYork: M. E. Sharpe.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fallon, Valère. 1933. Principles of Social Economy. Translated by McNulty, John and Goss, Bert. New York: Benzinger Brothers.Google Scholar
Godley, Wynne, and Lavoie, Marc. 2007. Monetary Economics: An Integrated Approach to Credit, Money, Income, Production and Wealth. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harcourt, Geoffrey C., and Kriesler, Peter, eds. 2013. Oxford Handbook of Post-Keynesian Economics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hayek, Friedrich A. 1939. Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar
Hayek, Friedrich A. 1944. The Road to Serfdom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hoyt-O’Connor, Paul. 2009. Bernard Lonergan’s Macroeconomic Dynamics. New York: Edward Mellen.Google Scholar
Kalecki, Michal. 1971. Selected Essays on the Dynamics of the Capitalist Economy, 1933–1970. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Keynes, John M. 1936. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
King, John E. 2002. A History of Post-Keynesian Economics since 1936. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
King, John E. 2015. An Advanced Introduction to Post-Keynesian Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Kriesler, Peter, and Nevile, John W.. 2012. “Dynamic Keynesian Economics: Cycling Forward with Harrod and Kalecki.” Cambridge Journal of Economics 36 (2): 405–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lonergan, Bernard. Notebooks. In Lonergan Archives, Regis College, University of Toronto. [Many of the documents are available online at http://www.bernardlonergan.com/index.php. Accessed February 17, 2022.]Google Scholar
Lonergan, Bernard. 1991. “Panton Anakephalaiosis.” Method: Journal of Lonergan Studies 9 (9): 139–169. [Introduction by Robert Doran and Frederick Crowe, pp. 134–138. Originally written around 1935. Now in Archival Materials: Early Papers on History. Volume 25, Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan. Edited by Robert Doran and John Dadosky. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.]Google Scholar
Lonergan, Bernard. 1992. Insight: A Study of Human Understanding. Volume 3, Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan. Edited by Crowe, Frederick and Doran, Robert. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. [Originally 1957.]Google Scholar
Lonergan, Bernard. 1998. For a New Political Economy. Volume 21, Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan. Edited by McShane, Patrick. Toronto: University of Toronto Press [The main essay was originally written c1942, lost, then found in 1986 by Eric Kierans.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lonergan, Bernard. 1999a. “An Essay on Circulation Analysis.” In Macroeconomic Dynamics: An Essay in Circulation Analysis, Volume 15, Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan. Edited by Lawrence, Fred, Byrne, Patrick, and Hefling, Charles. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 1–95. [Originally written 1944, and continually revised until 1982.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lonergan, Bernard. 1999b. “Healing and Creating in History.” In Macroeconomic Dynamics: An Essay in Circulation Analysis. Volume 15, Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan. Edited by Lawrence, Fred, Byrne, Patrick, and Hefling, Charles. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 97–106. [Based on 1975 lecture at Thomas More Institute, Montreal.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lonergan, Bernard. 2004. “Moral Theology and the Human Sciences.” In Philosophical and Theological Papers 1965–1980. Volume 17, Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan. Edited by Crokan, Robert and Doran, Robert. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 301–312. [Originally a paper for International Theological Commission 1974.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lonergan, Bernard. 2017. Method in Theology. Volume 14, Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan. Edited by Doran, Robert M. and Dadosky, John D.. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. [Originally 1971, revised edition 1973.]Google Scholar
Lonergan, Bernard, Lambert, Pierrot, Tansey, Charlotte, and Going, Cathleen M.. 1982. Caring About Meaning: Patterns in the Life of Bernard Lonergan. Montreal: Thomas More Institute.Google Scholar
Mathews, William A. 1985. “Lonergan’s Economics.” Method: Journal of Lonergan Studies 3 (1): 9–30.Google Scholar
Mathews, William A. 2005. Lonergan’s Quest: A Study of Desire in the Authoring of Insight. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marx, Karl. 1983. The Portable Karl Marx. Edited by Eugene Kamenka. New York: Viking Press.Google Scholar
Menzies, Gordon, and Zizzo, Daniel. 2009. “Inferential Expectations.” B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics 9 (1): 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meynell, Hugo A. 1986. The Theology of Bernard Lonergan. Atlanta: Scholars Press.Google Scholar
Meynell, Hugo A. 1991. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Bernard Lonergan. Second edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Meynell, Hugo A. 2009. “Taking A(nother) Look at Lonergan’s Method.” New Blackfriars 90 (1028): 474–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Novak, Michael. 2003. “Memories of Bernard Lonergan SJ.” Journal of Macroeconomic Analysis 3: 194–204.Google Scholar
Brien, O’, David, J., and Shannon, Thomas A.. 1992. Catholic Social Thought: The Documentary Heritage. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.Google Scholar
Ormerod, John. 2010. “Towards an Understanding of Lonergan’s Model.” Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Ormerod, Neil, Oslington, Paul, and Koning, Robin. 2012. “The Development of Catholic Social Teaching on Economics: Bernard Lonergan and Benedict XVI.” Theological Studies 73 (June): 391–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oslington, Paul. 2011. “Lonergan’s Reception among Economists: Tale of a Dead Fish and an Agenda for Future Work.” Method: Journal of Lonergan Studies, New Series 2 (1): 67–78.Google Scholar
Oslington, Paul, ed. 2014. Oxford Handbook of Christianity and Economics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oslington, Paul. 2018. Political Economy as Natural Theology: Smith, Malthus and Their Followers. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pasinetti, Luigi L. 1981. Structural Change and Economic Growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pasinetti, Luigi L. 1993. Structural Economic Dynamics: A Theory of the Economic Consequences of Human Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pasinetti, Luigi L. 2010. “Dottrina Sociale Della Chiesa E Teoria Economica” [The Church’s Social Doctrine and Economic Theory]. Report presented on 24 June 2010 in the opening session of the seventh symposium of university teachers, organized by the Vicar of Rome.Google Scholar
Pesch, Heinrich. [1923] 2003. Lehrbuch Der Nationalokonomie: Teaching Guide to Economics. Translated by Ederer, Rupert J.. Five volumes. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen.Google Scholar
Potron, Maurice, Bidard, Christian, and Erreygers, Guido. 2010. The Analysis of Linear Economic Systems: Father Maurice Potron’s Pioneering Works. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph A. [1912] 1934. The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest and the Business Cycle. Translated by R. Opie. Cambridge. MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph A. 1939. Business Cycles: A Theoretical, Historical and Statistical Analysis of the Capitalist Process. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph A. 1954. History of Economic Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shute, Michael. 2010a. Lonergan’s Discovery of the Science of Economics. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shute, Michael. 2010b. Lonergan’s Early Economic Research: Texts and Commentary. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shute, Michael. 2010c. “The Original Construction of Lonergan’s Exchange Structure Model.” Journal of Macrodynamic Analysis 5: 69–94.Google Scholar
Shute, Michael. 2017. “Finance in the Stationary State: An Introductory Note on the Financial Problem in Lonergan’s Economics.” Method: Journal of Lonergan Studies 8 (2): 57–72.Google Scholar
Teixeira, Pedro, and Almodovar, Antonio. 2008. “Catholic Economic Thought.” In Durlaf, S. and Blume, L., eds., New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Second edition. Online. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Tracy, David. 1970. The Achievement of Bernard Lonergan. New York: Herder and Herder.Google Scholar
Waterman, Anthony M. C. 2004. Political Economy and Christian Theology since the Enlightenment: Essays in Intellectual History. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watt, Lewis. 1928. Capitalism and Morality. London: Cassell and Company.Google Scholar
White, Graham. 2004. “Capital, Distribution and Macroeconomics: Core Beliefs and Theoretical Foundations.” Cambridge Journal of Economics 28 (4): 527–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnet, R. J., and Müller, R. E.. 1974. Global Reach: The Power of the Multinational Corporations. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Bell, D., and Kristol, I.. 1981. The Crisis in Economic Theory. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Blaug, M. 1980. The Methodology of Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Breit, W., and Ransom, R.. 1971. The Academic Scribblers; American Economists in Collision. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Drucker, P. 1981. Toward the Next Economics, and Other Essays. NewYork: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Eatwell, J., and Robinson, J.. 1973. An Introduction to Modern Economics. London: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Eichner, A. S., ed. 1979. A Guide to Post-Keynesian Economics. White Plains, NY: M. E. Sharpe.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinstein, C. H. 1967. Socialism, Capitalism and Economic Growth: Essays for Maurice Dobb. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gadamer, H. G. 1975. Truth and Method. London: Sheed and Ward.Google Scholar
Gordon, R. J. 1978. Macroeconomics. Boston: Little, Brown. Also second edition 1981.Google Scholar
Heilbroner, R., and Lowe, A.. 1969. Economic Means and Social Ends: Essays in Political Economics. Hoboken: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Kalecki, M. 1971. Selected Essays on the Dynamics of the Capitalist Economy 1933–70. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lowe, A. 1965. On Economic Knowledge: Toward a Science of Political Economics. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Lowe, A. 1976. The Path of Economic Growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Novak, M. 1981. Toward a Theology of the Corporation. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute.Google Scholar
Novak, M. 1982. The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Rima, I. H. 1967. Development of Economic Analysis. Homewood, IL: Irwin.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1942. An Essay on Marxian Economics. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1971. Economic Heresies: Some Old-Fashioned Questions in Economic Theory. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, J. 1979. Aspects of Development and Underdevelopment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rostow, W. W. 1961. The Stages of Economic Growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, J. A. 1911. The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest and the Business Cycle. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Well marked.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, J. A. 1942. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. London: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, J. A. 1954. A History of Economic Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, A. 1970. Growth Economics: Selected Readings. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Wilber, C. K., and Jameson, K. P.. 1983. An Inquiry into the Poverty of Economics. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame.Google Scholar