The Church has long upheld that economics is a subset of ethics and morality. Economic principals are not an independent field and can only be properly understood when viewed throught the lense of ethics and morals.
The Church holds that responsibilities attached to the ownership of property, the principles of justice and equity in wages and comercial dealings, the lawfulness or unlawfulness of charging interest on borrowed moneys (It is unlawful to charge interest on an unproductive,ie non-comercial, loan), are questions of conscience which find practical application in every day of one's life.
A person who understands the moral and ethical principals involved in economics is most likely to be honest in his business dealings, seeking to give customers the best possible products and services at a fair price.
One who sees economics as being wholly detatched from morals and ethics will only serve the bottom line, trying to squeese every ounce of profit from the customer whith no remorse for cutting corners or outright cheating the customer in order to maximize profits.
A society with no moral or ethical compass to guide economic principals will quickly devolve into rampant corruption and economic uncertainty as no one will be able to trust anyone with their money and rules can change overnight, depending on who can afford to outbribe whom.
No wonder our economy is such a wreck today!
