Abstract
It is fruitful to interpret The Bishops' Letter, in line with Robbins' classic definition of economics, as being a pre-economic document that identifies some “given ends” for economists to accept, if only provisionally, in carrying out their economic analyses. Such an interpretation is entirely consistent with the view of their own work that the bishops expressed in their letter. This interpretation leads to treating The Letter as a document dealling with the moral and ethical issues involved in selection of social goals and with incorporating these goals into welfare economics by identifying them as merit wants (or goals). A society that does have merit goods among its goals cannot achieve its goals without public action. The bishops recognize this, but The Letter is by no means statist.
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