EIGHTH MESSAGE 8-8-00
Moral Economics - Essays On The Relation of Economic Theory to the Moral
Perspective in POVERTY AND DEVELOPMENT: AN INTER-FAITH PERSPECTIVE.
[www.wfdd.org.uk/]
This is the eighth of an occasional series of short essays about how
economic theory interacts with a moral perspective. Readers are invited to
discuss and to re-post widely, but please quote the source.
THREE APPROACHES TO POVERTY:
The previous, seventh essay discussed the first approach to poverty, namely
immediate alleviation. This essay discusses a second approach to poverty.
SECOND APPROACH: SELF RELIANCE AND "EMPOWERMENT"
Faith based communities recognize that charity is appropriate only in
extreme circumstances because it perpetuates a lack of dignity associated
with poverty. The second approach strives to enable poor people to acquire
the skills needed for self sufficiency.
SELF SUFFICIENCY REQUIRES DIVERSITY
However, the danger exists that agencies and communities offering solutions
to poverty may impose solutions on people without considering the unique
values of their culture. Faith based solutions understand that such cultures
require strong civil organizations so that solutions imposed from outside
can be modified to suit local conditions. Such a network of effective civil
organizations in an impoverished community will also decentralize decision
making; this decentralization helps ensure that local values are maintained.
For example, the author of these essays has developed a set of 34 economic
policies which are designed to allow for decision decentralization,
adaptation to local cultures and effective economic development; they can be
found at http://www.mkeever.com/. This set of policies is much more
comprehensive and inclusive that traditional economic policy proscriptions.
A TRADITIONAL ECONOMIC SOLUTION CREATES TWO PROBLEMS
Traditional economics offers one solution to all problems. As seen in
today's multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF, modern
economic theory offers only one set of policies to cure all ills. Faith
based communities reject this approach to self reliance as condescending and
ineffective.
These traditional approaches create two problems. First, Western style
democracy may not be the best way to achieve empowerment in all cultures at
all times. Second, market economies, especially in international trade,
create many injustices due to recognized market failures; market economies
require careful control to create a moral society.
Michael Pierce McKeever, Sr.
Economics Instructor, Vista Community College, Berkeley, CA
MIEPA URL: http://www.mkeever.com/
Corp Ethics List: http://www.egroups.com/group/corp-ethics/
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|