This is the fourth in a series of Templeton Foundation sponorsed conversations among leading scientists, scholars, and public figures about the “Big Questions.”
...Critics of consumerism can be found among all political allegiances, every religious faith and within most fields of ethical inquiry. However, it is not immediately clear that there is a consensus about how consumerism functions in society. Consumerism is often portrayed as simply an ideology or a belief system. Within this portrayal, a Christian response to consumerism is found by investigating the conflicting beliefs… Any investigation into what it means to be made in the image of God would quickly critique the notion of human-as-consumer.
Looks at the paradox inherent in a system where our ethics and values as producers (hard work etc.) are at odds with our ethics as consumers (ease and debt) among other things.
The Capitalism Project [Regent College] is undertaking a series of reflections on the loss of a sense of place in modern society. The Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann in his book The Land comments, “The sense of being lost, displaced, and homeless is pervasive in contemporary culture. The yearning to belong somewhere, to have a home, to be in a safe place, is a deep and moving pursuit.” The theologian Oliver O’Donovan explicitly connects this ‘homelessness’ with consequences of the modern economy: “Homo Oeconomicus [economic man], that unspiritual clod, has become a wanderer en masse.” This series will attempt to investigate the claims of Brueggemann and O’Donovan and consider the relationship between the loss of a sense of place and capitalism.
The old dignity code that George Washington once followed has not survived modern life. Every week there are new scandals featuring people who simply do not know how to act.
Has there ever been a time when there were so many different views of human nature floating around all at once? The economists have their view, in which rational people coolly chase incentives. Traditional Christians have their view, emphasizing original sin, grace and the pilgrim’s progress in a fallen world. And then there are the evolutionary psychologists, who get the most media attention…Evolutionary psychology has had a good run. But now there is growing pushback. Critics say the theory is being used to try to explain more than it can bear.
A new CEPR Policy Insight takes a close look at the Keynesian theory underlying the policy of fiscal stimulus being undertaken or considered in many countries, led by the US.
Justin Wolfers of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School talks to Romesh Vaitilingam about happiness economics – the state of knowledge; the explosion of data; the debate about the Easterlin paradox; the impact of inequality and the business cycle on people’s happiness; and the implications for public policy. The interview was recorded at the Centre for Economic Performance in London in June 2009.
Is the US due for a protracted decline in housing prices? This column argues that fundamentals on the supply side of the housing market imply that US housing prices are about to bottom out. They should resume rising soon.