Mere Economics argues that the economic way of thinking is not merely reconcilable with Christianity, but that “economic principles follow from Christian doctrine.” Academic economists and devout Christians Art Carden and Caleb S. Fuller systematically dispel the “folly masquerading as wisdom” that claims their faith is incompatible with support for free markets.
The authors explain that profit is the offspring not of avarice but of prudence. Profit lets us determine how best to serve our neighbor by signaling when we’re producing more wealth than we’re consuming—and when we aren’t. Wealth, unless ill-gotten, does not represent domination over other men; it represents man’s dominion over the earth, allowing him to satisfy the demands of Genesis 1:28.
Carden and Fuller explain that price gouging laws are knowledge embargoes that “bear false witness,” thereby preventing us from knowing which of our neighbors are most in need of assistance. Especially important to today’s policy debates is the lesson that trade is not zero-sum. It is a cooperative enterprise that enriches both parties. Miraculously, parties to a trade generate value not by being the best, but by doing what they do best.
Carden and Fuller explain the inherent instability of price-fixing cartels, the ephemerality of monopolies in a free market, how incumbents use regulation to insulate themselves from competition, the negative-sum nature of theft (as it forces resources to be redirected from production to protection), and the importance of well-defined property rights to achieving socially optimal levels of pollution (hint: not zero!).
Mere Economics shows the theological and cardinal virtues prized by Christians require private property and free exchange to know “what other people want and when we have chosen wisely.”
