Market design from the Perspective of Theological Anthropology, by Christina McRorie (in the January 2027 ASSA program)

I'm always on the lookout for different perspectives on market design, and here's a paper that caught my eye in the  ASSA Preliminary Program for the January 2027 meetings in Washington DC.

 It's in a session called  What Economic Models Can and Cannot See: Human Flourishing, Freedom, and the Common Good (B4)  Hosted by the Association of Christian Economists 

Can Market Design Make Us More Free? Some Notes on the Use of Experimental Economics from the Perspective of Theological Anthropology  by Christina McRorie, Boston College 

Abstract
Although modern thought tends to construe freedom as freedom from constraint or freedom of choice, Catholic theological anthropology has long defined true freedom as the state of being agentially oriented toward the good. As Servais Pinckaers puts it, it is “freedom for,” rather than “freedom from”—specifically, freedom for living in a Christ-like way, which becomes possible as we come to participate in Christ’s character. This perspective suggests that social influences which encourage our growth in character are not only helping us become more good, but also more free. Moreover, because this conception of freedom is not based in autonomy, this remains true even if these formative influences are not chosen by us, and work on us without our awareness.
Using this concept of freedom, this paper considers the theological implications of experimental research on prosocial behavior in markets. It appears that certain conditions encourage subjects to act with more fairness, trustworthiness, and even generosity than they might under other conditions. (E.g., when market participants can observe each other’s behavior and communicate, and when the social framing of various options emphasizes values, or at least does not emphasize competition or the threat of loss, among other factors.) Insofar as laboratory studies replicate conditions present in actual markets, this indicates that some real markets elicit more moral behaviors than others.
Moreover, because virtue theory assumes that character is built through repeated moral action, markets which encourage individuals to act in prosocial ways can be read as supporting their growth in virtue, insofar as these elicited actions eventually influence individuals’ dispositions and habits. To the extent that this occurs, this paper proposes that good market design can encourage us to become more good, and thus more free.