Jeff Van Duzer: The Role Of Faith In Economics

The world often sees faith as separate from different aspects of today’s society. However, this is completely the opposite. Faith is shown in our actions and what we do in the world. It can be seen in the government all the way to economics. It’s everywhere, sometimes we just miss it. Jeff Van Duzer and George N. Monsma Jr. looked deep into how faith is related to economics. They found that economics is mentioned many times in different places in the Bible. It actually is one of the bigger themes talked about throughout the Bible. If it is a big issue in the Bible shouldn’t it be a big part of our lives? As we look at how the world works through economics we can see faith being a played out in a variety of markets. Everywhere from the small business right down the street to the friday night lights in the professional football league. Every market, however big or small, faith can be seen working in it and through it.
Jeff Van Duzer explores how good Christian ethics can be seen in a competitive market environment. Van Duzer
writes, “Competitive markets are effective only if one is willing to embrace the notion of ‘creative destruction’, which for the sake of increasing wealth and efficiency, destroys industries, jobs, and, from time to time, people along the way.” Many believe that it is impossible to survive as a Christian in a competitive market place. With the goal of increasing wealth there will be multiple obstacles along the way where the decision to maximize profit or to follow Christian ethics may be a problem. However, Van Duzer has also found that Christians in a competitive market who uphold Christian values can still survive without compromising too much of their overall wealth. This would go against ideal economics in the Mankiw text as it tries to completely maximize profit. The ideal maximization would say to do whatever it takes to get the most out of your resources. Maximizing profit would mean that If underpaying employees provides more profit than that is the decision to go with. Christian ethics would say otherwise, because as Christians we need to care for people, and in this case employees. Since the competitive market is far from perfect there are many cases where corruption can secure profit. Christian ethics needs to stay away from that mindset and focus on improving the market environment, which is largely spreading the Kingdom of God.
Monsma points out that God is the owner of all things. Whatever we have it is all Gods and it is very important in an economical environment to remember that. God calls us to manage His resources here on earth. Often times our humanity kicks in and unhealthy greed leads to destruction of God’s earth and his resources. Being a good manager of God’s resources means exercising good Christian ethics. This may mean the the maximization of profit would fall but it would also mean that God’s Kingdom would grow. Mosnama also points out that God calls us to be generous to one another. According to the Mankiw text generosity is a bad thing as it hurts the individual's overall wealth. According to the Bible we need to lend a hand and give to those in need. Even though wealth is a priority in the business world, it shouldn’t be the first priority. Against what the Mankiw text says we shouldn’t “Orient our lives towards the seeking of wealth” (Mosma). Monsma also points out that, “More wealth is not always better than less wealth; we can have too much wealth for our own good as well as too little wealth. As Agur prays in Prov­erbs 30:8 and 9.” We need to be content with what we have. Sometimes being content is cutting short the opportunity to get more wealth. Again this totally goes against the Mankiw text. I think that the most important thing to keep in mind is that everything is God’s and we need to be content with what God has provided for us. We also need to be stewards and help people along the way, sometimes sacrificing wealth. Wealth is not a bad thing, it is a gift. Christian’s involved in the market need remember that.
Free markets are everywhere and these Christian principles apply to them.
While studying the NFL ticket market I found that there is a lot more taken into account than just the buying and selling of a ticket. A big part of it is what the selling the ticket is for. Sometimes selling a ticket is to bring in more people other times it may be to improve understanding and quality for the fans. However it is all planned around receiving as much revenue as possible. Mankiw text would say to price the ticket as high as possible and to charge everybody for the ticket. However there may be a young boy suffering in the hospital whose dream is to go to the big football game. Christian ethics wouldn’t charge the boy for the ticket, it’d help and love the boy by giving him tickets. This is a small example of how Christian ethics could be shown in the NFL ticket market, but it is still there. Faith is and should be seen in
economics.
We can’t afford to ignore the use of faith in economics. The decisions that are made should be oriented around God’s word. We also can’t afford to let wealth run our lives like it has in so many people’s lives. We as Christians need to focus on our duty as stewards of God’s resources and use them towards the growth of the Kingdom of God. We need to let faith take a part in the decisions we make, especially in the economic world.