Understanding the role of economics in our lives is the challenge at the heart of the 2010-11 Notre Dame Forum, “The Global Marketplace and the Common Good.”
“The world has been shaken by the current economic crisis,” says Notre Dame’s president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.“The Notre Dame Forum will create a yearlong discussion on the role of ethics, values, and morals in the rebuilding and reshaping of the global economy.”
Established in 2005, the Notre Dame Forum brings leading authorities to campus to discuss substantive issues of the day. Topics explored in previous forums include immigration, sustainability, global health, and the role of religious faith in a plural world.
This year’s topic is one that has taken on increased scrutiny with the current economic turmoil across the globe and the recent papal encyclical Caritas in Veritate, in which Pope Benedict XVI offers reflections on “truth in charity,” touching on related theological, economic, and political issues.
“As an economics professor, I am struck by the many places where the document provides the same lessons we teach in economics classes,” Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Economics William Evans wrote in a recent essay for the forum. “As a Catholic, I am reminded that true development is not just economic but requires a broader view of man.”
Evans further shared his perspective on Caritas in Veritate at the forum’s opening event, called Morals and Markets: Being Catholic in a Global Economy. The event also featured opening remarks by Jenkins and a panel of faculty from the Notre Dame Law School and Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
A complete record of forum events—including this month’s speech by Pulitzer-Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and opportunities to join in the discussion—is available on the forum website.