Unfortunately, there is a sentiment the persists among some Christians of all types that historical and traditional Christian ethics are somehow opposed to free markets. This idea has long been fueled by many proponents of free markets themselves, it seems, as many of them subscribe to rather questionable quasi social-Darwinist theories or strange notions about how monetary profit is somehow more valuable than non-monetary motives or values.
In fact, markets merely reflect the values of human beings, and are tools that help people better make use of the physical world and turn it into food, shelter, and other necessities. Even better, the more skilled we become at using markets in this way, and the better we become at producing real capital, the more leisure time we have to spend with family, friends, and to enjoy those things that we value most.
In this audio interview, economist and former Mises Fellow Shawn Ritenour, and author of Foundations of Economics: a Christian View, breaks down how markets work and how there is no conflict between free markets and the Christian moral system. But, even for those who aren’t interested in the religious aspect, the interview also works as a nice basic from-the-ground-up explanation of markets for those who want a basic 20-minute explanation of how markets use prices and voluntary exchange to provide to human beings what they value.
For more, here’s another audio interview on a similar topic with Ritenour and Lew Rockwell.
