School of Economics and Business Administration Dean Ignacio Ferrero recently said that “when we reflect on market ethics, we should realize that an economy merely based on maximizing profit is not enough. We have to broaden our scope to include much more.”

Ferrero, an expert in business ethics, made these comments in the context of a roundtable discussion on economics and sustainable development as part of the University of Navarra’s inter-school dialogue on Pope Francis’s May 2015 encyclical letter, Laudato si’ (Praise Be to You). Domènec Melé, Professor Emeritus of Business Ethics and Chair of Business Ethics at IESE Business School, and Antonio Moreno, Professor in the University of Navarra School of Economics and Business Administration, also contributed. The discussion was moderated by José Luis Álvarez Arce, the Director of the Department of Economics.

“The Church’s social doctrine plays a vital role,” Ferrero argued. “Time and again, this doctrine has favored the vision of people who essentially depend on one another in a very fundamental way and whose individual destinies play out in close conjunction with the destinies of others.” In this context, the Church’s teachings on the universal purpose of property are of particular importance. “People just have a kind of social mortgage on private property, so that goods can serve the general purpose that God gave them,” he said.

Ferrero took issue with interpretations of this doctrine that oppose a market economy. He said, “The free market is the solution, not the problem. It’s the only known way of organizing economic activity that respects human freedom and dignity.”

Climate change on the global political agenda

On climate change, Moreno said “Laudato si’ is a step forward for practical Christian anthropology. Pope Francis is proposing a new green culture that reconciles human activity with nature and the environment.” Moreno went on to say, “This is a cultural, ethical and moral revolution to save and love nature.” Moreno said, “The economy and the market have the potential to help bring about this reconciliation between people and the environment, but they do not seem capable of actually solving environmental problems. We can’t just leave everything up to the market or, for that matter, to the government. All of us – civil society, politicians, entrepreneurs and families alike – have to work together towards this common goal, so that it’s easier for countries to sign environmental agreements like the one proposed in Paris last year.”

“Many leaders believe that the goals of economic growth are irreconcilable with sustainable development, despite empirical evidence to the contrary,” Moreno said. “Reconciling the two should be at the top of the political agenda. One way of achieving this might be to promote intensive projects in environmentally friendly technological sectors and thereby create the kind of virtuous circle the world economy needs.”