Humans First, Models Second: Subsidiarity and the Practical Economics of the Human Person

Economics is often reduced to numbers, graphs, and models—but real economic life is lived by human persons in families, workplaces, and communities. In this lecture, Vladimir Snurenco applies a Christian anthropology to concrete problems: the $300,000 cost-to-raise-a-child claim, welfare cliffs, marriage, and poverty. His argument is simple but consequential: when economics forgets the human person, even correct math produces misleading conclusions. The lecture concludes with subsidiarity as a practical principle for restoring local knowledge, personal responsibility, and mediating institutions to the center of economic life.