Here is a summary of the events I attended today. (I wasn't having very good luck with the photos today. Sorry for the poor quality.)
Session 4: Economics and Human Action
Jeffery Tucker, Director of Research for the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, AL, led this session. Tucker suggested the Left and the Right often distrust economics. The Left tends to be dismissive because economics pushes us beyond the surface level of "feel good" actions to evaluate the actual latent and unintended consequences of actions. The Right is suspicious because modern economics is new and because it is absent (relatively speaking) from the great books and authors over the past millennia (Nothing really new under the sun you might say.)
Tucker pointed out that much like logic, economic calculations are ubiquitous across a full range of human action. It simply can't be ignored. The problem is that we think of economics purely in terms of money exchanges. Tucker pressed the idea of opportunity costs. Each decision to do something of necessity precludes engaging in other actions. We each tend to evaluate the benefits of a set of options before us and rank those in terms of which will provide us with the most satisfaction. Our cost is the loss of the opportunity to engage in the number 2 item on our list. Thus, most actions we take are economic decisions, even though many involve no monetary transactions or technical monetary calculations of costs and benefits.
Tucker went on to distinguish between scarcity and shortage and presented seven basic principles that economics offers us in evaluating our world.
Session 5: Theology and the History of Globalization
Samuel Gregg, Director of Research, Acton Institute, led this session. (My pictures came out so poorly that I have substituted a slightly less bad picture from earlier in the conference.) Gregg presented a fascinating lecture on globalization that concentrated on the Biblical narrative and what it says about globalization. Gregg listed six elements of globalization:
Proliferation of transnational organizations
Diminishing of nation-state decision-making abilities and sovereignty
Planetary dimensions to business, finance, trade, technological, and information flows
Diminution of political and economic barriers
Increasing cultural homogenization
Unparalleled expansion of personal relationships
Many view globalization as entirely negative. Others consider it to usher in a golden age of unprecedented economic growth and happiness. Walking us through the Biblical narrative, Gregg shows that humanity was conceived as one human family in union with God. When sin entered the world, humanity sought unity without respect for God (i.e., Babel). The story of Scripture is God's ever-expanding work to recapture all of humanity as a family in communion with him and humanity's attempt to unite without respect for God. Thus, when we look at globalization in our age, we can affirm much of the good achieved, always being cautious and in opposition to the agenda that unites us in separation from God. The church's mission is to enter this increasingly globalized (is that a word?) world and be the New Creation in the midst of the emerging reality. You can listen to Gregg's presentation by clicking here.
Session 6: Economic Myths about the Market
This session was taught by Jay Richards, Director of Acton Media and Research Fellow at Action Institute. Jay presented five prevalent economic myths.
1. Piety Myth – The tendency to take an action because it seems spiritual to do so, without examining unintended consequences and trade-offs.
2. Nirvana Myth – Discrediting existing realities by measuring them against utopian standards that can't be achieved this side of the fulfillment of the New Creation. Economics systems and proposed solutions to economic problems must be compared with historical realities and real-world alternatives.
3. Freeze Frame Myth
Assuming that the way things are now (demographic distributions, technological knowledge, etc.) will always be the same, and then simply projecting the current reality into the future.
4. Zero-Sum Game Myth
"If I get rich, doesn't that make someone else poor?" No! Win-win market transactions lead to ever-increasing expansion of the total pie. No fixed sum of wealth is taken from some and given to others.
5. Materialist Myth
We ran short, and I'm not sure I quite caught this one correctly. I think the idea was the tendency to confuse wealth with the number of dollars owned.
Discussion Groups
I attended the discussion group about economics. About two dozen of us gathered to hash out questions and ideas on folks' minds. It was a great time.
Evening Event: "Wealth and Poverty Redux" by George Gilder
George Gilder, Chairman of Gilder Publishing. Nearly one-quarter century ago, Gilder published his book "Wealth and Poverty." Gilder revisited some of those topics. One of his basic themes this evening was that capitalism, at its core, is not about competition. It is about creation. It is about creating and exchanging in ways that create win-win situations throughout society and the world. I didn't take detailed notes this evening, and I assume the Acton blog will have a review of his talk.
On tap for Friday:
Session 7: Poverty in the Developing World
Session 8: Evangelical Social Thought: Justice Grounded in Love
Session 9: Culture, Consumerism, and the Market
Discussion Groups
Evening and Closing Event: “Entrepreneurial Vocation” by Robert Sirico
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