Rising Tide or Zero-Sum Game?

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 2:50 pm by Guest Contributor

Rising Tide or Zero-Sum Game? 2015-10-14T14:50:28-05:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Why Christians should care that the Nobel prize in economics has gone to poverty and welfare researcher Angus Deaton

By Dr. P.J. Hill

The announcement of Angus Deaton as the latest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics is welcome news for Christians who want a deeper understanding of the dramatic change in human well being for most of the world over the last two centuries. Deaton, a Princeton economist who focuses very carefully on a wide variety of data, explains how the beginnings of economic growth in England and the Netherlands around 1800 has spread to much of the world, with substantial impact on infant mortality, people’s perception of “life satisfaction” (it increases with increases in per capita income) and other measures of human well being.

Deaton presents a nuanced understanding of measures of income, poverty, and health. He argues that economic growth is not a recent phenomenon; many societies throughout history have experienced growth, but until the last two centuries none were able to sustain that growth. The introduction of the rule of law coupled with consequent technological improvements are responsible for a substantial portion of the today’s world experiencing life in ways that were inconceivable in 1800.

Deaton argues that economic growth will not affect everyone at the same time in the same way, hence increases in income inequality may be a natural outcome in a growing economy. Those are not problematic unless the increased inequality changes power structures enough that crony capitalism, where the wealthy are able to alter the rules in their favor, dominates the political world. He acknowledges that we don’t have a good measure of how much of the increases in inequality are due to such favor seeking, but sees it as a potential problem as some become enormously wealthy. This is quite different than the standard zero sum view of world, where an increase of wealth of some has to come from others in society. In other words, it is not necessarily the case that the rich become rich at the expense of the poor. The overall impact of wealth producing activities depends on the rules of the game, in particular whether the rule of law is maintained.

The moral case for the rich of the world to be concerned for the poor is an important part of Deaton’s work, but he posits that much of that moral concern is expressed in unfortunate, and indeed unethical ways. He sees the efforts to control population growth as largely driven by a belief on the part of the developed world that the “others” of Africa and Asia needed to be told that they were having too many children, without asking those people about their preferences for family size.

The problem of good intentions gone awry also is evident in Deaton’s criticism of foreign aid. He sees most foreign aid as increasing the power of extractive institutions, rather than wealth producing ones. Expanding trade between countries offers much more hope for the poor of the world than monetary transfers to governments that have little interest in bettering the economic status of their population.

This Nobel Prize is an acknowledgement of the importance of thinking carefully about the world of wealth creation and the impacts of that creation on all the people of the world.

Dr. P.J. Hill is Professor Emeritus of Economics, Wheaton College and Senior Fellow, Property and Environment Research Center, Bozeman, Montana.

Previous Post

October 12, 2015

Growing new ideas: Innove Project

Next Post

October 14, 2015 Changing one neighborhood: Focused Community Strategies

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Audio posts Bible and Work Book Review Books Budgeting Calling Common Good Community Development Conferences Discipleship Economics Entrepreneurship Ethics Faith and Family Faith and the Marketplace Faith and the Workplace faith and work History of Work and Vocation Leadership Local Church Meaning New Blogger News Prayer Relationships Seminaries Theology of Work Uncategorized Video posts Vocation Worship Resources

Select a Month April 2026 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 April 2025 January 2025 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 May 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 August 2023 July 2023 April 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 June 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 January 2020 December 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said: "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

John Peter James Paul