I was reading Amitav Ghosh’s book The Nutmeg’s Curse recently. It’s a book that ranges widely across climate change, colonialism, literature and history, spun out from the story of the discovery of nutmeg in Indonesia.
One of Ghosh’s concerns is how the stories that we tell about ourselves affect our actions in the world. Colonial conquest was legitimised and encouraged through heroic narratives of greater races and noble civilisations. The abuse of nature was explained away in similar fashion, with stories of overcoming brute nature.
We do the same with our economics.
“When the idea that the selfish pursuit of individual interests is a universal feature of human nature is adopted as a basic tenet, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy”, he writes. “Neoclassical economics, in which that is a foundational creed, is a good example.”
He goes on to describe a study that found that economics students were more selfish, less cooperative with others and more likely to lie. “Selfishness, uncooperative-ness and dishonesty are not ‘naturally’ dominant aspects of the human personality; they become dominant only through processes of indoctrination into certain modes of thought.”
This is something to bear in mind as we imagine a fair and sustainable economy – what stories will we tell about ourselves that point us towards this? What can we draw on in Scripture and in the Christian tradition that would lead us in the right direction?
We’ve attempted to answer this question before, in our paper Awakening to a New Economics. One idea we can draw on is the Bible’s description of life as a gift, and creation as abundant. In a generous world, we can afford to be generous ourselves.
Another useful principle is our shared identity in the image of God can help to cultivate a sense of the common good, a flourishing based in community rather than individualism.
What else do you think might help to us towards a new economics?
Joy in Enough 