Premium
The Pope and the Price of Meat: A Public Choice Perspective
Author(s) -
AULT RICHARD W.,
EKELUND ROBERT B.,
TOLLISON ROBERT D.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
kyklos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1467-6435
pISSN - 0023-5962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6435.1987.tb00688.x
Subject(s) - cartel , perspective (graphical) , power (physics) , fish <actinopterygii> , economics , law and economics , public economics , sociology , political science , microeconomics , fishery , biology , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , computer science , incentive
SUMMARY Modern economics has expanded beyond treating economic institutions as exogenous. This paper applies public choice and modern regulatory theory to the twentiethcentury Roman Catholic Church and attempts to discover why the decision was made in 1966 to absolve Catholics from the requirement that meat not be eaten on most Fridays of the year. We provide a cartel analysis of the institutional backdrop and power structure of the College of Cardinals within the Church. In this framework, self‐interest, the geographic production of beef and fish, and the expanded number of voters in the College of Cardinals are the keys to understanding why Pope PAUL VI decided to change the relative price of meat and to alter penance rules in 1966.