http://www.thinkingfaith.org/ Reported here by: SPMG, 7 August 2009 

Since the onset of the financial crisis, there has been an increase in the number of people in London engaging in voluntary work – work that can be a way of practising and expressing austerity . Andrea Kelly, Coordinator of London Jesuit Volunteers, describes the often counter-cultural practice of volunteering.

http://voxeu.org/ Reported here by: SPMG, 3 August 2009

In numerous poor or stagnating countries, politicians are ineffective and corrupt, public goods are under-provided and public policies confer rents to privileged élites, law enforcement is inadequate, and moral hazard is widespread inside public and private organisations. There is not just one institutional failure. Typically, the countries or regions that fail in one dimension also fail in many other aspects of collective behaviour.

One of the main challenges of current research in economic growth and development is identifying the mechanism through which distant political and economic history shapes the functioning of current institutions. The author, a professor of economics at Bocconi University, claims that an important channel for this shaping is individuals’ morality (defined as individual values and convictions about the scope of application of norms of good conduct). It is an important factor in economic outcomes.

http://www.thinkingfaith.org/  Reported here by: SPMG, 3 August 2009 

What do we need to do in order to live a good life, and why should we want to do this? John Moffatt SJ looks at different approaches to developing an ethical framework, and examines the relationship of religion to various ethical traditions.

http://voxeu.org/ Reported here by: SPMG, 6 August 2009

Aid critics have recently been blaming aid as the source of Africa’s poverty. This column explains how Africa has long been struggling with rural poverty, tropical diseases, illiteracy, and lack of infrastructure and that the right solution is to help address these critical needs through transparent and targeted public and private investments. This includes both more aid and more market financing. It refers to D. Moyo and her recent book “Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How there is a Better Way for Africa” see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dambisa-moyo/aid-ironies-a-response-to_b_207772.html 

http://www.thinkingfaith.org/ Reported here by: SPMG, 5 August 2009

Easter Monday 2009 marked the 28th anniversary of the martyrdom of Monseñor Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, who once said, ‘as a Christian, I do not believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me I will rise again in the people of El Salvador.’ Rodolfo Cardenal SJ writes about the legacy of Archbishop Romero – very much alive in the Church today.

http://www.theatlantic.com/  Reported here by: SPMG, 3 August 2009

Is there a formula—some mix of love, work, and psychological adaptation—for a good life? For 72 years, researchers at Harvard have been examining this question, following 268 men who entered college in the late 1930s through war, career, marriage and divorce, parenthood and grandparenthood, and old age. Here, for the first time, a journalist gains access to the archive of one of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies in history. Its contents, as much literature as science, offer profound insight into the human condition—and into the brilliant, complex mind of the study’s longtime director, George Vaillant. 

http://www.thinkingfaith.org/  Reported here by: SPMG, 4 August 2009 

…Today marks the anniversary of Black Tuesday, a crucial date on the timeline of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, and in similar times of financial uncertainty our attitudes towards the economy are under the spotlight. Makbul Rahim describes how religious ethics can inform economic pursuits, asking particularly how a religious perspective might view the economy as a tool for tackling climate change. 

http://voxeu.org/ Reported here by: SPMG, 4 August 2009 

Bank bonuses have been blamed for contributing to the crisis, and regulators and politicians are now demanding changes in compensation arrangements. Most of these calls are based on a misconception of the nature of financial risk, an inflated view of the efficacy of risk models, and an incorrect view of the incentive issues facing financial institutions. This column proposes reforms that would discipline senior managers by exposing them to the dangers of junior managers’ risk taking. 

http://www.salvationarmy.org.nz/EconomicElephants 

http://www.salvationarmy.org.nz/Rainbows Reported here by: SPMG, 4 August 2009 

The Salvation Army NZ has released a thought-provoking discussion paper exploring consumerism and what we feel is rightly ours. It focuses on the concept of entitlement and the inherent dangers of framing entitlement in terms of our desires and inflated expectations. The Rainbow paper follows on from an earlier paper on Economic Elephants and the theology of enough.