Work provides the opportunities that social justice distributes. Without
work there isn’t even the possibility of justice. On the one side, this fact
calls us to think clearly about what works and about what creates value
in the economic world, and about how this is forged into economic
justice. This short essay focuses on that junction between work and
justice, drawing on two recent encyclicals for their insight into justice,
and drawing on recent economic history for insight into what actually
works economically. In the end one conclusion becomes clear: our work
is justified by what it teaches us and nourishes in us, but even more it is
judged by the objective value of what it produces.