Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical on the environmental crisis may be the most talked about papal statement since 1968. Although Francis ignores the role of markets in the channeling of self-interest to serve the common good—and conserve natural resources—his criticisms of the “deified market” often hit their mark.

A.M.C. Waterman is a retired fellow at St. John’s College, Winnipeg and professor emeritus of economics at the University of Manitoba, Canada.
Climate ChangeCulture and SocietyEconomic PolicyEconomyEnergy and the EnvironmentEnvironmental Law and RegulationNatural ResourcesPhilosophy and ReligionPollution
Other Independent Review articles by A.M.C. Waterman
Winter 2020/21 Economics Meets War and Peace: Tolstoy’s Implicit Social Theory
Winter 2019/20 The Evolution of “Orthodoxy” in Economics: From Adam Smith to Paul Samuelson
Winter 2002/03 Economics, Love, and Family Values: Nancy Folbre and Jennifer Roback Morse on the Invisible Heart