Classical Economics And Its Religious Underpinnings

[rug]

I spent a couple of days in a TV studio recently, recording a series of short teaching sessions on the basic principles of classical economics and how they apply to investments. Since the idea of God was integral to the founders of classical economics, and the firm which requested the series was sympathetic to that idea, I spent time reading Jacob Viner’s unfinished book, Providence and the Social Order in preparation for the project.

Viner was a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and taught, among others, the great Milton Friedman. Some of Viner’s colleagues at Chicago believed that he had read more economic history than any man ever had. Viner had a life-long interest in writing about the theological roots of modern free-market economics, but because there was little interest in the topic among economists in the mid-20th Century he put the project off for most of his life. Eventually he was able to start to write on this topic, but by then it proved to be too late for him to finish it before his death.

After several decades of research, Viner concluded that Smith was an example of a strand of thought which he called “optimistic providentialism.” This view goes back to the early Christian church fathers, as far back as the time of St. Augustine. It grew to eventually become popular in intellectual circles at the time of Smith. Viner pointed to the extremely important idea he dubbed “providential abundance,” which held that the universe was designed by God to be abundant. The necessities of life were widely distributed by Him, and even the luxuries of life could be had when free people are allowed to pursue self-interest. Man, being in possession of free will, could waste and squander opportunity through plunder, war and empire, but those were not the original design. Frederick Bastiat develops this idea more fully in Economic Harmonies, arguing that peaceful labor and abundance was the Edenic intention, but that there had arisen a “misunderstanding between God and mankind,” in which the latter chose the path of coercion.

According to Bastiat, the laws of economics are much like the laws of physics, in that they are rational and inviolable and reflections of the mind of God. But in some sense they are even more remarkable in that they involve the meshing of elements, which unlike those of nature, are sentient.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrybowyer/2011/08/24/classical-economics-and-its-religious-underpinnings/

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Absolutely, and I might add some folks in the Colonies

belonged to the same school.

God was not seen as an outside force but the watchmaker.

[BanzaiBonnie]

2. Interesting article, especially in light of

social science is bringing forward. We are born as cooperative beings. We are wired for cooperation.

Frederick Bastiat develops this idea more fully in Economic Harmonies, arguing that peaceful labor and abundance was the Edenic intention, but that there had arisen a “misunderstanding between God and mankind,” in which the latter chose the path of coercion.


I certainly think someone misunderstood something when force was first used against another. We also know how the amygdala works for self-protection. Fear sets us on a path of self-preservation. Societys then were built from small groups into larger and larger groups where it is impossible to care about so many.

Our technology for manipulating our world outgrew our emotional evolution. TIme to catch up.

Oh, heck, there are just so many facets to this... no soundbite or slogan to cover it.