Aquinas' Just Wage in the Modern Day

This thesis outlines the relevance of the Thomistic approach to economics, provide guidelines for determining Aquinas’ just wage in the modern day, and apply Aquinas’ philosophy to minimum wage laws. In order to apply Aquinas’ philosophy to modern economics, I analyze his concept of justice and his theory of law, as well as integrate modern market logic with his principles for a moral economy. I conclude that minimum wage laws are compatible with Aquinas’ theories of law and the role of wealth. However, the minimum wage is not always the just wage in the Thomistic approach. The just wage can only be determined between a just worker and just employee. They must take circumstances into account, value the labor based on the worker’s loss and the employer’s need, and set the wage by considering the ultimate end goal of virtue