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The following outline is a series of links to essays I’ve written on the topic of distributism, an economic ideal put forth by such notables as G.K. Chesterton and Hillaire Belloc as a kind of corrective approach to reign in the alleged excesses of free market capitalism. I am sympathetic to the positive ideals of distributism, such as small business ownership, but I remain deeply unconvinced that distributist reforms would be helpful to the common man today. The most important parts to read for someone who is new to the topic are probably 1.A, 2.A.2, and 4.

0 DEEPER QUESTIONS

1 DEFINITIONS IN DISPUTE

–1.A) What are Capitalism and Distributism?
–1.B) What is Freedom?
–1.C) What is Economics?

2 COMPLAINTS AGAINST CAPITALISM

–2.A) Complaints concerning Higher Values

—–2.A.1) Government and Public Morals
—–2.A.2) Justice
—–2.A.3) The Political Power of Corporations
—–2.A.4) Unfair Competition
—–2.A.5) Usury

–2.B) Complaints concerning economics only

—–2.B.1) The First World Worker
—–2.B.2) The Third World Worker
—–2.B.3) Debt
—–2.B.4) Protectionism

3 ALLEGED BENEFITS OF DISTRIBUTISM

–3.A) Economic Security
–3.B) More Family Time

4 OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL