5 Reasons Christians should embrace Economic Freedom

Anne Rathbone Bradley, PhDInstitute for Faith, Work & Economics

abradley@tifwe.org

Why Should Christians Care?

There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’

---Abraham Kuyper

Creation

Gen 1:27-31

Fall

Rom 3:22-23

Restoration

Rev 22:1-5

Redemption

Rom 3:24-26

THE FOUR-CHAPTER GOSPEL

Economic Freedom

Individuals have economic freedom when property they acquire without the use of force, fraud, or theft is protected from physical invasions by others and they are free to use, exchange, or give their property as long as their actions do not violate the identical rights of others….

James Gwartney and Robert Lawson et al.Economic Freedom of the World: 1996 Annual Report

Economic Freedom Measures1. Size of Government2. Legal System and Property Rights3. Sound Money4. Freedom to Trade Internationally5. Levels of Regulation

Overall Economic Freedom Index and the Top 10

Source: The Fraser Institute.

0 2 4 6 8 10

Score (out of 10)

Hong Kong

Singapore

New Zealand

Switzerland

Australia

Canada

Bahrain

Mauritius

Finland

Chile

Economic Freedom

5 Reasons1. Christian view of human anthropology2. We are called to serve others, especially the poor3. We are called to flourishing4. Property rights are Biblical5. Limited government is Biblical

1: Human Anthropology

Cultural MandateSo God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

---Genesis 1:27-28

We are image-bearers of GodWe are created to work (Genesis 2:15)We are born with something to contribute, we need

freedom to do it.

2. Serving the Poor

The righteous care about justice for the poor,but the wicked have no such concern.

---Proverbs 29:7

“Of the tendencies that are harmful to sound economics, the most seductive, and in my opinion the most poisonous, is to focus on questions of distribution. In this very minute, a child is being born to an American family and another child, equally valued by God, is being born to a family in India. The resources of all kinds that will be at the disposal of this new American will be on the order of 15 times the resources available to his Indian brother.

This seems to us a terrible wrong, justifying direct corrective action, and perhaps some actions of this kind can and should be taken. But of the vast increase in the well-being of hundreds of millions of people that has occurred in the 200-year course of the industrial revolution to date, virtually none of it can be attributed to the direct redistribution of resources from rich to poor. The potential for improving the lives of poor people by finding different ways of distributing current production is nothing compared to the apparently limitless potential of increasing production.”

---Nobel Laureate, Robert Lucas

The best most productive and well-tested way of helping the poor is through market trade.

Enabling people to use their gifts and skills to serve others has lifted billions out of poverty over the last hundred years. Billions.

Myths about Wealth Creation

Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?April 13, 2008, New York Times

3. Called to flourishingGod calls us into community with each otherHe gifts us with talents and skills so we can find personal

fulfillment and serve others.

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

--Jeremiah 29:4-7

4. Property Rights: Stewardship

Property rights are part of the biblical narrative of stewardshipWe are given dominion over the earth (stewardship)That dominion is reinforced in the 8th commandment

Exodus 20:15 “You shall not steal” Theft is a violation of property

“The eighth commandment, while one of the two shortest in the Decalogue (Ex. 20:15; Deut. 5:19), taught that stealing was not only taking another person’s property, but it also included all forms of coercion, fraud, or taking another person’s possessions or property

without consent, along with all forms of cheating or harming property by

destroying its value in one way or another.

Thus theft involved the following: robbing victims directly; using indirect and legal means of gaining benefits not deserved; or by being part of a corporate group that steals.”

---Walter Kaiser

5. Limited GovernmentThere is no place in the scripture that calls for massive

redistribution through the state

The left claims certain aspects of scripture1. Acts 2-5 (communal property)

1. Not a once and for all divestiture2. Giving was voluntary3. Temporary measure4. Cant get “ought” out of “is”

2. Leviticus 25:10 (Jubilee) Restoring property after mortgaged to a creditor Lease/sets stage for contracts Meant you could never be enslaved No debt forgiveness because already paid

Old Testament/New Testament distinctionsIsrael was a theocracyOT prophets did warn other nations about violating

negative rightsNT state as a protector of negative rights (Romans 13)

StewardshipEconomic Freedom helps us better us our scarce

resources which have multiple and competing ends.

Free-market economics correlate with certain biblical truths that can bring us higher levels of flourishing or shalom.

Economic Freedom

Are we better off than we were 100 years ago?

It’s not just about the BenjaminsEconomic Freedom is correlated with

More income and opportunity for the poorLower child mortalityLonger lifespanBetter performing and cleaner environmentsLife satisfactionLess political corruptionBetter protected civil liberties

Its about Flourishing!