Welfare and values

The ever-growing gap between escalating costs of welfare to meet a wide range of social needs and available resources has become an acute challenge to the fabric of our society. Whatever politicians may promise, there are no easy solutions. 'Cutting back' and 'privatizing' may be necessary but are ethically questionable. The specific contribution of this interdisciplinary collection of essays, after setting out economic parameters, consists in demonstrating that the issue is not purely economic let alone party-political, but has significant moral, some call it spiritual, components. This implies that economics must interact with political philosophy, moral reflection and theological enquiry and thereby provide a comprehensive set of thoughts truly reflecting the reality which shapes social and economic patterns.