No Free Lunch: Economics for a Fallen World: Third Edition, Revised

Chapter One: Introduction to Economics 14 BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY PRINCIPLE #1: WE ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD As individuals created in the image of God, we were created to create. As the table above suggests, we have significant capabilities and responsibilities as image-bearers. We were charged to take dominion over the material world that God has given us. Our creativity is the source of this increasing dominion, and in economic actions, the source of productivity gains and increases in material well-being. As our Father did, we are tasked to increasingly create order out of chaos. We were created to make complex plans in response to the challenges of tending the garden. Individuals acting in accordance with their status as image-bearers provide a blessing to others as they pursue their Godly calling. This Godly calling is not to take dominion for our own benefit, rather it is to act as stewards on behalf of a master. To act according to our call, we must have the freedom to exercise the delegated responsibilities God has given us. BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY PRINCIPLE #2: GOD GIVES INDIVIDUALS DIFFERENT GIFTS AND TALENTS Our individual calling differs based on the abilities that God has given us. Each one of us has different aptitudes and interests, leading us to exercise our abilities in different ways. This leads to the possibility of mutually beneficial exchange. Because of the inherent differences we have, there is a strong incentive for us to forego our fleshly antagonism toward others and instead seek out ways for social cooperation that lead to our mutual benefit. Markets are the outward manifestation of this reality and naturally emerge when people are free to exchange and property rights are reasonably well protected. The founder of economics, Adam Smith, called this our natural “propensity to truck, barter and exchange.” Most of us don’t actually have a natural propensity to do this generally, but it is in our interest to participate in mutually beneficial exchanges based on our differing individual abilities. BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY PRINCIPLE #3: HUMANS ARE DEPENDENT AND FINITE BEINGS God is the creator and we are the creature. As finite and dependent beings, we are limited in what we can do and what we can know. Our universe is very complex. At best we only know a small part, and it is the height of hubris to think that we know it all. Indeed, the most learned in any discipline are increasingly aware of how little they know about their subject matter. This does not mean they don’t know a lot, but rather as they learn more and more, they get a better appreciation of the vast scope of knowledge that still remains to be discovered.