L
LongingSoul
Guest
How wonderful to see these new wave of articles coming to us through the secular media!
huffingtonpost.com/robert-gottfried/religion-offers-practical-hope_b_8979816.html?ir=Australia
Just as we are not perfect though the God who dwells in us is, neither is the market perfect. When consumers fail to account for the negative impact of the goods they purchase or firms neglect the costs they impose on the environment and communities surrounding their plants, the market’s Invisible Hand fails to allocate resources properly. For instance when we fail to consider that others are less likely to fall ill if we get vaccinated against measles (or fail to care about it), we are willing to pay less for a vaccination than otherwise. In addition, when coal producers fail to include the costs mountaintop removal imposes on the health of surrounding communities and mountain ecosystems, the market’s Invisible Hand produces too few vaccinations and too much coal. Yet, if people start caring about others, whether human or nonhuman, they start including these formerly ignored costs and benefits in their consuming and producing and move the market toward full-cost pricing. Demand and supply change, so the Invisible Hand provides fewer and fewer goods that harm the environment and its people and more of those that benefit them. The process resembles, though on a far more comprehensive scale, a gradually increasing carbon tax, a much-discussed policy proposal to address climate change. Spiritual health and socioeconomic health inextricably intertwine. That’s why Pope Francis includes discussions of spirituality alongside economics in his encyclical on climate change.
As individuals learn to recognize the sacred in all things, they act in more loving, nurturing ways towards others, whether human or nonhuman. Isn’t it interesting that this happens to markets and economic systems, too? As consumers and entrepreneurs grow, so the Invisible Hand starts to allocate resources in ways that nurture all of creation. By God’s becoming a human to transform the cosmos, God not only made it possible for individuals to reflect God’s love and mercy, but for the economic system to do so also. God enables the market’s Invisible Hand to more closely resemble the Holy Spirit. Maybe my friend wasn’t so far off after all.
huffingtonpost.com/robert-gottfried/religion-offers-practical-hope_b_8979816.html?ir=Australia
Just as we are not perfect though the God who dwells in us is, neither is the market perfect. When consumers fail to account for the negative impact of the goods they purchase or firms neglect the costs they impose on the environment and communities surrounding their plants, the market’s Invisible Hand fails to allocate resources properly. For instance when we fail to consider that others are less likely to fall ill if we get vaccinated against measles (or fail to care about it), we are willing to pay less for a vaccination than otherwise. In addition, when coal producers fail to include the costs mountaintop removal imposes on the health of surrounding communities and mountain ecosystems, the market’s Invisible Hand produces too few vaccinations and too much coal. Yet, if people start caring about others, whether human or nonhuman, they start including these formerly ignored costs and benefits in their consuming and producing and move the market toward full-cost pricing. Demand and supply change, so the Invisible Hand provides fewer and fewer goods that harm the environment and its people and more of those that benefit them. The process resembles, though on a far more comprehensive scale, a gradually increasing carbon tax, a much-discussed policy proposal to address climate change. Spiritual health and socioeconomic health inextricably intertwine. That’s why Pope Francis includes discussions of spirituality alongside economics in his encyclical on climate change.
As individuals learn to recognize the sacred in all things, they act in more loving, nurturing ways towards others, whether human or nonhuman. Isn’t it interesting that this happens to markets and economic systems, too? As consumers and entrepreneurs grow, so the Invisible Hand starts to allocate resources in ways that nurture all of creation. By God’s becoming a human to transform the cosmos, God not only made it possible for individuals to reflect God’s love and mercy, but for the economic system to do so also. God enables the market’s Invisible Hand to more closely resemble the Holy Spirit. Maybe my friend wasn’t so far off after all.