PDFof this page  
<< expand viewing area >>
The Bible "not an economics textbook"? It covers
"ALL the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3)
and "ALL things that pertain unto life and godliness"
(II Pet. 1:3). This includes human economic behavior.
better content
How to nurture Christocentric economics textbook content? Theologians know too little of economics to think to ask of Scripture the specialized questions the subject needs answered. Only Christian economists can do that.
What subject matter-specific questions can
the Bible as an economics textbook answer?
Q
A
Example: Is demand-side economics (Keynesianism) right or wrong? Biblical principles say it is wrong.
DEMAND-SIDE
ECONOMICS
(KEYNESIANISM)
UNEMPLOYMENT (A LABOR SURPLUS) IS DUE TO UNDERCONSUMPTION, WHERE HOARDING
REDUCES PRIVATE INVESTMENT. MORE GOVERNMENT SPENDING ("PUMP-PRIMING") MUST
FILL THIS INVESTMENT GAP TO CREATE JOBS, BOOST DEMAND, AND RESTORE PROSPERITY.

Demand-side economics (Keynesianism) cannot restore real prosperity because it spurns these Biblical principles …
TRINITARIANISM DENIES SOVEREIGNTY TO EITHER THE GROUP OR TO THE INDIVIDUAL OVER THE OTHER. SO NO STATE NOR ANY CITIZEN IS SOVEREIGN OVER SUPPLY AND DEMAND, AND MARKETS ARE FREE UNDER BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES.
Scripture rejects human sovereignty over government in general and state control over the money supply in particular (Deut. 17:14-20; I Sam. 8:7).
Lowering the purchasing power of repaid loans steals from creditors.
Inflation lowers purchasing power of loans repaid to creditors, raising workers' cost of living faster than their wages. Government "greatly" expands the money supply, violat­ing Deut. 17:17b, when – to "pump prime" – it inflates enough to steal from workers and creditors. This rule blocks the state from inflating virtually at all, and hence from temporarily increasing net demand.
Market wages are fair wages (Matt. 20:1-2, 13). Wages are prices of labor. Market prices are thus fair prices. Surpluses ("over-­production"/
"under-consumption") never happen at market prices, which equalize supply and demand.
Lowering the purchasing power of wages steals from workers.
Minimum-wage laws and above-market union pay scales cause labor surpluses. These imbalances are political problems, not market failures.
Uninvested savings ("hoarding") mean
less money circulates,
lowering prices,
raising purchasing power, maintaining demand, preventing unemployment if wages are flexible.
Government gets money to "pump prime" by taxing it, borrowing it, or inflating it. Taxing and borrowing do not increase consumption. They just transfer it from the private to the public sector. Inflation taxes the purchasing power of existing money, shifting net purchasing power to the state. Prosperity depends on profits, savings, investment, productivity. Private consumption is productive, financed by private profits and creation of new wealth. Government consumption is unproductive, produces no new wealth or profit, lowers living standards. Only if God were not sover­eign might demand-side economics (Keynesianism) promote productive consumption.
Unexpected inflation artificially and temporarily cuts interest rates, causing malinvestment. There is a general boom, next a general bust. Later bouts of this "business cycle" involve greater inflation first, then deeper recessions. In "stagflation" (stagnation plus inflation), business ceases to expand in response to further bursts of new money.
⇒ ⇒ ⇒ ⇒ ⇒ ⇓ ⇓ ⇒ ⇓ ⇐ Biblical economic principles corollaries of these principles
… but it still succeeds for its advocates – utopian socialists, functional unitarians – because it EXPANDS GOVERNMENT.
Such graphic design-type layouts unlock Christocentric textbooks' full transformative potential because they:
better format
next page