Abstract

To be consistent with John Paul II’s assertion of the primacy of the subjective dimension of work—of “being” versus “having”—it is necessary to reject profit maximization as the primary objective of the firm. In its place, the author proposes instead that the firm’s foremost objective is the maximization of personalist capital. Properly understood, profits are a necessary condition for the firm’s survival but not its primary goal. The concept of personalist capital in effect incorporates the subjective dimension of work into microeconomic theory without dismissing the objective dimension entirely.