Pandemic Economics

I like everyone else, have been pondering when it is the right time to ease off on business closures so that we can go back to earning a living.

The economic consequences have been harsh, some comparing the damage to the economy to the 1929 Great Depression.

The economic wisdom of the NZ Government has therefore come under fierce scrutiny.

Economics and the Bible are not often said in the same breath. 

But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have anything to say about it. In fact, it has a lot to say about it.

The economics of the kingdom of God are different from how the utilitarian world would normally see economics.

For example, Gareth Morgan, a prominent NZ economist appealed to Pharmac's use of around NZD 10,000 per life as a standard by which we should decide public health policies.

Using this standard, the billions spent to prevent COVID-19 from overloading health systems and causing mortality rates such as that seen in Italy, Spain and the US, makes no sense.  

The Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:1-7) gives an example of how God sees economics.  The shepherd leaves his flock in order to find the single lost sheep.  

To God, every life is precious even if it means allowing the many to be vulnerable for a time while the few are saved.

COVID-19 means we are now entering a phase in our economy where there are going to be many unemployed and therefore needy.  

The bible says, true religion is the care for the widow and the orphan.  In other words the poor and needy.

You could say that this means that whatever you think you’re doing for God, if it doesn’t ultimately lead you to helping the poor and needy then you’re fooling yourself.

Within Judaic thought, charity is given high priority.  Equally important is not just charity but how this charity is given.  

Amongst the many ways one can give charity, the highest form is the kind that enables the recipient to re-establish their financial independence and dignity (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot matanot aniyim ("Laws about Giving to Poor People"), Chapter 10:7–14).

So if you can hire someone to do your gardening then please do, if your oven needs cleaning then hire someone to do it, if you can, if you can give someone a job even for a short period, then do it.  If you can invest in someone and get them started in a business, then invest.

Therefore, don't just give, but hire.  Don't just give, but invest.  Don't just give, but restore.

Charity and giving extends the Kingdom of God

Julian the Apostate, the Emperor of Rome

Free markets, individual enterprise, personal responsibility are all good things. Capitalism is a great system that has served mankind well. We owe a considerable amount of our progress to its ability to allocate resources efficiently. In God's economy, there is a fail-safe against Capitalism's principal systemic weakness: wealth tends to concentrate amongst an elite minority. That failsafe is giving. When we give and lend to others in need, with no judgement  attached (Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:35) then we bless our neighbours and its power reveals an aspect of the kingdom of God and indeed an aspect of his heart that Capitalism cannot. Mercy has a magnetic quality that draws people to God.

Psalm 116:5–7 (NKJV)
Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is merciful.
The LORD preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me.
Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.

When it applied to those yet to profess their allegiance to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,  it was a major influence on Roman society as it encountered the Early church at a time when it was indistinguishable from Judaism:

The impact of this ministry of mercy upon pagans is revealed in the observation of one of Christianity’s worst enemies, the apostate Emperor Julian (332–63). In his day Julian was finding it more difficult than he had expected to put new life into the traditional Roman religion. He wanted to set aside Christianity and bring back the ancient faith, but he saw clearly the drawing power of Christian love in practice: “Atheism (i.e. Christian faith) has been specially advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers, and through their care for the burial of the dead. It is a scandal that there is not a single Jew who is a beggar, and that the godless Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them.”

Shelley, B. L. (1995). Church history in plain language (Updated 2nd ed.) (35–36). Dallas, Tex.: Word Pub.