Promoting the Common
Good: Bringing Economics and Theology Together Again
A Theologian and an Economist in Dialogue
by
Marcus Braybrooke and Kamran Mofid
Foreword by Richard Harries,
the Bishop of Oxford
Epilogue by Bhai Sahib
Bhai Mohinder Singh
"The social responsibility of business is
to increase its profits"
Milton Friedman
"Businesses do not have a natural
propensity to do good. What is natural for them is to minimise costs and
maximise profits"
Editorial, The Economist, 24 June
1995
"To [the inefficiency of the economic system]
must be added the cultural and national dimension. It is not possible to understand man on
the basis of economics alone nor to define him simply on the basis of class
membership. Man is understood in a more complete way when he is situated within
the sphere of culture through his language, history, and the position he takes
toward the fundamental events of life..."
Centesimus Annus (no.24)
"The art of government in fact is the art
of so ordering life that self-interest prompts what justice demands"
Archbishop William Temple
Today, sadly economics is
viewed by many as a “dismal” science. It has an abstracted version of humanity,
Homo Oekonomicus, or Rational
Economic Man, a man that always prefers more wealth to less. This greedy,
self-seeking man has become the unquestioned "truth" that has led to
many of today's socio-cultural, spiritual and environmental crises, as what is
economically rational is often socially or morally unreasonable. This model of the individual is sharpened by
an exclusive focus on production and consumption, with no regard for their
consequences. The goal is that as many desires as possible must be satisfied,
whatever those desires are. This false ideology, in turn, has excluded
morality, community and the common good from economic discourse. Moreover, from
the standpoint of human well-being and happiness, there is surely something
irrational about dedicating ourselves single-mindedly to accumulating more
wealth all the time.
Economics today has
increasingly been dehumanised. Theological reflection is particularly
scarce within economics. This was not always so. Even a little reading of the
history of economic thought will show how economics was very closely and
explicitly linked with theology. This umbilical cord was torn first,
during the 18th century, when
economics was detached from theology to become political
economy. Then, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
it was cut off from political philosophy to become simply economics. Now,
through over-utilisation of mathematical models, it has become
an arid, abstract “science”, interested only in “things” that can be
measured, and devoid of any moral content.
Beneath those complicated
and hard to understand mathematical models however, there is the
inescapable human input that keeps economics within
the humanities. How we conduct ourselves in our private and economic
lives has a moral dimension. To resolve these moral dilemmas we need to look to
the great religions of the world. The root of effective religion is effective
economics, since the dissipative nature of life requires that we must all
consume to live. Good religion not only establishes the environment necessary
for creation of wealth, but makes certain that everyone has access to adequate
resources for living, and seeks to minimise waste. This means
that, theology is directly relevant to economics.
Economists, thus, should not be seen as mere accountants, totting up
numbers, but as philosophers of human activity. That is why economics and
theology can never remain separated any more than any human activity can be
divorced from theology.
In this
short publication, theologian Marcus Braybrooke and
economist Kamran Mofid, writing in a
jargon-free style, discuss how theology and
economics may once again work more closely together for the common
good. Although, increased productivity, efficiency, and the production of
wealth are important elements of a functional economy, so is the equitable
distribution of that wealth.
If the economy cannot
contribute to the latter, even though it has increased productivity and wealth,
then, it is a social organisation that has failed to achieve its proper end. Modern
economics promotes scarcity, competition, individualism, greed and
selfishness, as the engines of “successful” modern capitalism. In contrast
to this modern doctrine, the authors argue that the goal of the economic
process should be, to aid the development and the perfection
of human personality, dignity and happiness. This occurs only within a social
community which cultivates the virtue of justice and
consideration of the common good.
Economics, from the time of
Plato through to Adam Smith , John Stuart Mill
and others, was as deeply concerned
with issues of social justice, ethics and
morality as with economic
analysis itself . However, most students studying
economics today, learn that Adam Smith was the “father of modern
economics” but do not know that he was also a moral philosopher. In
1759, sixteen years before his Wealth of Nations, he published The
Theory of Moral Sentiments, which explored the self–interested nature of
man and his ability to still make moral decisions based on factors other than
selfishness. In the Wealth of Nations, Smith laid the early groundwork
for economic analysis, but embedded it in a broader discussion of social
justice and the role of government. Students today know only of
Smith’s famous analogy of the “invisible hand” and refer to him (rather
obliquely) in defence of free markets. They
ignore his clear understanding that the pursuit of wealth should
not take precedence over social and moral obligations, and
of how a “divine Being” produces “the greatest quantity of happiness”.
It is important and timely
to articulate an alternative. The task of this booklet is to encourage a better
understanding of economics by highlighting the need and the reasons for, as
well as the benefits of, bringing theology and economics together.
Religions, after all, represent one of the oldest and most enduring global
networks rooted in strong ethical principles not currently dominant within the
global market. As such, one has to ask how they could offer insights and
potential ways of redirecting the global economy towards the common good. Put
it simply, religions use the standard of distribution or equality to evaluate
an economic policy, while economics uses the standard of production or
efficiency. However, to create a better world, it should be noted that, it is
no more a question of efficiency or equality, but a question of how to advance
both values together. A just and wise policy attempts to increase the area of
their convergence. It is a reminder of how easy it is to be carried along
unthinkingly by modern life, and at what cost,
without ever asking any questions about the
shortcomings of modern hedonism and materialism, as well as our
responsibilities in a world in which many people live in abject poverty and the
environment is endangered. In this sense, a theological perspective on
economics, takes us where moral views rooted in terms of liberal democracy and
market economy can not go: to a radical critique of everyday life in affluent,
consumerist societies.
Revd. Marcus
Braybrooke, President, World Congress of
Faiths; Patron, International Interfaith Centre (Oxford); Co-founder, Three
Faiths Forum (London). Author, Faith
and Interfaith in a Global Age, 1,000 World Prayers, and What We Can
Learn from Islam and other books. For more details see: www.worldfaiths.org
and www.peacecouncil.org/peacecouncilors.html
Kamran Mofid was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1952. In
1986 he was awarded a doctorate in economics from the University of Birmingham,
U.K. From 1980 onward, he has been teaching economics, business studies,
international business, and the political economy of the Middle East. In recent
years, Dr. Mofid has developed short courses, seminars, and workshops on
economics and theology, the economics of the common good, and an interfaith
perspective on globalisation. His many books and articles include: Development Planning in Iran: From Monarchy
to Islamic Republic (1987); The Economic Consequences of the Gulf War (1990);
and Globalisation for the Common Good (2002). In 2002 he founded an annual
international conference "An Inter-faith Perspective on Globalisation for
the Common Good.” For more details please see www.commongood.info
The Rt. Revd.
Richard Harries has been Bishop of Oxford since 1987. Before that he was
Dean of King's College, London. He has been a parish priest and a
lecturer in Christian Doctrine and Ethics.
The Bishop has written 18 books including Is there a Gospel for the Rich? (1992) and Art and the Beauty
of God (1993). In 1996 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal
Society of Literature. He has contributed to a wide variety of national newspapers
and journals. He is Chairman of the Church of England Board for Social
Responsibility, which puts him in the front line on a range of issues. He
is an active member of the House of Lords contributing to recent debates on
housing and homelessness, asylum seekers and the Family Law Bill.
For
further details please see http://www.oxford.anglican.org/bishop/
Bhai Sahib Bhai Mohinder Singh is the
Chairman and Spiritual Successor of the Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha in
Birmingham, UK, and internationally well known for this contributions in the
field of education, the Sikh heritage and inter-religious endeavours.
ISBN
0 85683 231 6 available
in April 2005 to coincide with:
The
4th Annual International Conference on an Inter-faith Perspective on
Globalisation --- Africa and Globalisation for the Common Good, the Quest for
Justice and Peace, Kericho, Kenya, April
2005.
Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers)
Ltd., Suite
604, The Chandlery,
50 Westminster Bridge Road,
London SE1 7QY,England.
Tel: 020
7721 7666 Fax: 020 7721 7667
email: books@shepheard-walwyn.co.uk
website: www.shepheard-walwyn.co.uk
Promoting the
Common Good can be ordered online:
The Foreword,
Abstract and Table of Contents of Promoting the Common Good can be found
here:
http://www.commongood.info/promocontent.html
Further
information on Globalisation for the Common Good can be found at: