The Pope and the Price of Meat: A Public Choice Perspective
运用公共选择与现代规制理论，分析1966年天主教会取消周五禁食肉令的原因，发现红衣主教团的自利动机、牛肉与鱼类的地理生产以及选民扩大是教皇改变肉价的关键。
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.