Welcome to a late hour edition of The Mueller Report!
This week I’m sharing some thoughts about economic development, prayer, reading the Bible, and fasting. Before diving into that, though, let me recommend you set aside twenty minutes at your earliest convenience to read this excellent blog post series about the church and Covid-19 policies.
Also, here are a couple random car facts I learned recently:
- Many older cars have a transponder in the manufacturer’s key that eventually fails without warning. When this happens, the car will fail to start and, at least on Toyotas, a little red circle with a key image inside of it on the dashboard will continue blinking with the key in the ignition.
- New cars often have a “black box” like airplanes that keeps track of all kinds of information that can be recovered in the event of a crash
- With advances in technology, there are devices you can plug into your car that will tell you all kinds of information you might want to know from the car’s computer – why a check engine light is on, what the tire pressure is, when different parts are due for maintenance, etc.
- Some insurance companies will reduce your car insurance premiums if you install a device that sends them information about how you drive (average speeds, frequencies, how quickly you brake, etc.)
Economic Development in Three Steps
Economists regard Adam Smith as the father of economics because of his monumental book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations published in 1776. As I mentioned two weeks ago, he considered this work a direct assault on the ideas of the mercantilists. Wealth, in his view, was not about amassing gold and silver. Instead, wealth consisted of the access ordinary citizens have to the “necessaries and conveniences” of life – their standard of living.
In the first three chapters of WN, Smith lays out how economic development occurs. First, you need increased productivity. Wealth (other than unearned natural endowments) must be produced. He argues that the division of labor, which allows for specialization, is the leading factor causing productivity to rise. It can make people 10, 20, 100+ more times productive than they used to be.
They become more productive because their skills increase when they specialize in fewer tasks, because they waste less time switching between tasks or activities, and, most importantly, because they have better knowledge and incentives to innovate.
In chapter two, Smith explains how human beings have “a propensity to truck, barter, and exchange” one thing for another. Exchange is essential to specialization because we all need and desire a wide variety of goods even though we may specialize in producing only one (or even part of one) good. Being able to exchange the surplus goods we help create for other goods we want is critical for the division of labor to work.
But this leads to a question. If people naturally desire to trade and to improve their condition, and the division of labor increases our productivity so dramatically, why don’t we find specialization and high levels of productivity everywhere?
Smith answers that question in chapter three by saying that “the division of labor is limited by the extent of the market.” Increased output due to specialized production only makes economic sense when you can exchange (sell) the increased output profitably. That requires access to markets of a certain size as well as an extensive labor force that can specialize while also producing a large variety of goods.
In places that have small or limited markets, specialization does not make economic sense. Think here of rural areas or remote villages. Or countries that have cut themselves off from markets through government policy (N. Korea, Cuba, Soviet Union, etc.).
Smith’s explanation also fits history quite well. One of the reasons early civilizations developed along rivers, besides the advantage of irrigation, was the ease of trade. This is also why maritime countries, by and large, were among the earliest to enter the industrial revolution. A large part of the economic development of Europe from the 17th century to the 19th century involved the leveling of local taxes and restrictions on trade into larger relatively free trade zones within and between nations.
An important but often overlooked application of Smith’s theory for developing nations is that they will benefit a great deal from access to large markets in developed countries. Unfortunately, most developed countries restrict or tax imports from poorer developing countries. Sugar quotas in the U. S. and significant tariffs on agricultural products entering Europe from Africa are two important instances.
Involuntary transfers of wealth from rich people and countries to poorer ones rarely makes the poor more productive. A Smithian approach to poverty alleviation involves removing barriers to trade. I often tell my students that they should spend their time educating others and lobbying against tariffs and quotas on goods from poor countries rather than trying to increase foreign aid budgets or advocating more extensive UN, World Bank, or IMF projects. Freedom to trade and innovate, with established legal protection, is the only long-run solution to improving the condition of the poor.
Bible Reading, Prayer, & Fasting
I don’t have time to give this section the attention I would like but here are some quick thoughts:
- Study and devotion are separate ends of a spectrum. According to Richard Foster, study explicates a word, devotion relishes it.
- Disagreement exists over whether reading short passages (even a couple verses) is better than reading long passages (multiple chapters or even books of the Bible). My compromise involves reading a couple chapters at a time, but then picking a verse to meditate on.
- Donald Whitney argues that meditation is the key connection between reading the Bible and prayer – he points out that George Mueller came to this conclusion after decades of going straight to prayer every morning. Mueller found that reading Scripture and meditating on it guided and strengthened his prayer life.
- From the puritan William Bridge: “Reading without meditation is unfruitful; meditation without reading is hurtful; to meditate and to read without prayer upon both, is without blessing.”
- I’ve begun to think that fasting is primarily about preparation for prayer or for a trial. It orients our body toward the Lord as we feel hungry and turns us again and again to the Lord to ask him to guide us and to prepare us. To that end, fasting often brings greater clarity to the mind and increased sensitivity to the Spirit’s prodding. I think many Christians, myself included, rarely fast because they rarely feel the need to prepare themselves spiritually for prayer or for trials.
- Prayer is a skill you learn and improve at by practicing it.
Talk to you next week!
Thanks for reminding me of Adam Smith's fundamental philosophy on how economic development occurs considering I read WNs decades ago. Now if we can just expose more people to his wisdom which has stood the test of time.
Plus, I concur with your final two comments. Christians (including myself) rarely fast because they don't feel the need to prepare themselves spiritually for prayer or for trials. And, prayer is a skill you learn and improve at by practicing it.
thanks -- Duane
This is so lovely. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts!