Democracy, Humane Economics, and a Culture of Enterprise

Abstract

The current global economic crisis has once again raised the prospect that free-enterprise economics is a deeply flawed system unable to support a robust democratic citizenship. In agreement with the argument that robust citizenship necessitates certain economic preconditions, this article offers a defense of the importance of a culture of enterprise for the support of democratic citizenship. Such a relationship presupposes a humane economics grounded on a rich anthropology of the human person and human goods as well as a relationship among this anthropology, enterprise, and the entrepreneur.