Wealth Creation in the Global Economy: Human Labor and Development

The aim of this paper is to rethink the basic source (human labor) of wealth creation and its ultimate goal (development, of each person and of the whole person), against the backdrop of our present time of rapid change and “global” integration. Such an inquiry into the nature or “ontological dimension” of human labor and development is needed in order to adequately ground an ethical perspective on work and development, as well as to provide economists with a more solid basis for policy prescriptions on these questions. An effort will be made to point out the distinctiveness of the Catholic social tradition on these matters.