The article tries to show how the concept of Wilhelm Röpke’s co-ordinates can be used to build a contemporary public policy theory. Assumption of interplay between orders: legal, cultural and economic policy places certain tasks on public policy to reflect more broadly on the consequences of action in the public sphere. On the other hand, the normative concept of social and economic governance proposed by Wilhelm Röpke also makes it possible to assess contemporary capitalism. The article tries to do so. In this way, the problems currently faced by public policy are highlighted: restoring freedom in the age of oligopolistic, corporate and financial capitalism, combating property asymmetries and pursuing sustainable immigration policies. The normative concept of socio-economic governance also sets out a number of tasks to be carried out by public policies. They are tantamount to meeting axiological demands, namely action in accordance with the following values: efficiency, competitiveness and economic freedom and, in the social sphere, the realisation of personalistic values (dignity, personal freedom, responsibility, justice, equality and solidarity). Public policy itself is also designed to be based on the principle of subsidiarity and pursue the idea of social security.