The Economy of Communion As Stakeholder Capitalism: Exploring Religion’s Evolving Influence on Business—Session 1

In 2019, the Business Roundtable redefined the purpose of a corporation to promote “an economy that serves all Americans.” In 2020, the New York Times endorsed this redefinition of corporate purpose fifty years after Milton Friedman’s editorial and amid protests for recognizing and including all. This year the Fordham University School of Law’s Institute on Religion, Law, and Lawyer’s Work and Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding invite you to explore how business can accomplish these humanistic goals. The Economy of Communion (EoC) is an economic model created within the Catholic tradition positing that business exists for the benefit of all people who make up a workplace, workforce, and marketplace. Religion has long influenced the norms and practices in which business is conducted, iconically with the Weberian “work ethic” informing capitalism. This conference will explore the continuing evolution of its relationship with business from a religiously diverse lens over four one-hour sessions each Tuesday in October. There will also be two Thursday sessions for reflection and networking.

Session I: The Business Purpose Question As the Question of Purpose

Speakers

• Jeffrey D. Sachs is a university professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. He is president of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and chair of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission.
• Luigino Bruni is an economics professor at Lumsa University in Rome. He is a consultant to the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life; president of the School of Civil Economy (SEC); editor-in-chief of International Review of Economics (IREC); and director of the Civil Economy Sciences at Lumsa in Rome doctoral program.