"Charity is the great channel," it has been well said, "through which God passes all His mercy upon mankind. For we receive absolution of our sins in proportion to our forgiving our brother. This is the rule of our hopes and the measure of our desire in this world; and on the day of death and judgment, the great sentence upon mankind shall be transacted according to our alms, which is the other part of charity. God himself is love; and very degree of charity that dwells in us is the participation of the divine nature."
Morals and Dogma VIII Intendant of the Building
Adam Smith failed to notice that self interest is not the only possible motivator of economic systems.
The first studies of economics must have been much earlier than our history tells us. The obvious importance of the subject should have caused thinkers of the ages to explain this topic in more detail than what we can see today. We find some banking laws in Deuteronomy but there is little more said on the subject over these many years.