Upon entering this class, I had a very narrow understanding of what economics was all about. While I believed that economics primarily dealt with quantitative analyses, I was intrigued to find that it is deeply related to morality and human nature. Like any other political or societal system or institution, economic systems reflect human fallibility as fallen creatures in a fallen world.
Firstly, the class started out defining what economics was. In its most basic sense, economics is the study of the "use of scarce resources to satisfy human wants" (Carson & Cleavland, 2018, p. 4). Because it relates to the satisfaction of human beings, morality and human nature are deeply intertwined with economics. Human beings can employ their God-given capacity to assert dominion and create to satisfy human wants. Because humans live in a fallen world, resources are scarce, and human beings are more inclined to act off of selfish ambition to gain an advantage over others in an attempt to satisfy their human wants.
This course taught me that fallible human nature also extends to the systems humans set in place. From Capitalism to Communism, each structure, organization, and institution is ultimately flawed in practice because of human nature. This idea is the Doctrine of Limits (Carson & Cleavland, 2018, p. 6). While theories on these politico-economic systems may paint a picture of a society that can provide for total human satisfaction, the imperfect nature of humans still reveals itself in practice. Capitalism gives way to cronyism when the government gives special treatment to the industries it favors. Communism gives way to tyranny when the desires of the powerful are preferred over the people's needs.
This is not to say that specific systems should not be favored over others. Economic frameworks that honor the God-given dignity of people to create and reason about the world around them should be put in place over systems that stifle that nature. However, no system can replace all humans' reliance on the Word of the Lord and the Natural Law of the world he has created. There is only one perfect God from whom all humans should draw their morals and essence, and no earthly system created by imperfect beings can justify an individual in this way.
References
Carson, C.B. & Paul, A.C. (2018). Basic Economics: A Natural Law Approach to Economics (4th ed.). Boundary Stone.
I love your post because I relate to it so much. Coming into this class my understanding of economics was little to nothing. I liked when you said, "This course taught me that fallible human nature also extends to the systems humans set in place. From Capitalism to Communism, each structure, organization, and institution is ultimately flawed in practice because of human nature. This idea is the Doctrine of Limits (Carson & Cleavland, 2018, p. 6). While theories on these politico-economic systems may paint a picture of a society that can provide for total human satisfaction, the imperfect nature of humans still reveals itself in practice. Capitalism gives way to cronyism when the government gives special treatment to the industries it favors. Communism gives way to tyranny when the desires of the powerful are preferred over the people's needs." Good post!