How I became supporting a free-market system as a Christian

Economics Major: How I became supporting a free-market system as a Christian.

 

When I was in college, I became increasingly interested in the North and South Korea conflict and the human rights issues in North Korea. Besides paying attention to the reality and the news discussions, I focused on studying the fundamental causes of the different economic systems. This way, I decided to major in Economics, with concentration on Economic History. I specifically studied where the philosophical concerns between socialism and liberal democracy began.

 

While I have studied Economics and classic humanities books, I was curious about "what is the impact of freedom on historical conflicts?" Paying attention to how history has developed, I realized that history has progressed towards a continuous increase of freedom. This freedom has led to the French Revolution, the Honorary Revolution of Britain, and it has bloomed in the independence of the United States that influenced the nation system of the Republic of Korea where I live. Also, this wave of freedom continues to advance and to build a shared zeitgeist that expands the perspective of what it means to be free.

 

Since the Reformation of the 15th century, the Christian perspective has changed the western civilization. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the concept of natural law and God-given human rights influenced great philosophers including John Locke and Kant. At the same time, this ideology also had effects on many economists including Adam Smith, who called himself a moral philosopher. In modern times, countries that have setup their political and economic system based on the Christian perspective of freedom have enjoyed prosperity. Britain, the United States, and the Republic of Korea are examples of this liberal approach.

 

Of course, the free market economy has had many disadvantages such as unemployment, inequality, monopoly and information failure.

 

However, it is not correct to say that the free-market economy is wrong because it has side effects. In the 19th and 20th centuries, socialism and communism were attempted as ways to solve the problem of the free-market economy, but it inevitably led to violence, lies, and dictatorship. Communism systems, which said that they could create a paradise on their own, were destroyed completely in history. After this failure of the communism, history naturally returned to freedom and market economy. Thus, I believe that the free-market economy is still a second-best solution as a nation system, as the paradise does not exist in this world.

 

I realized that the problem of free-market economy system is caused by the fact that humans are not moral, selfish, and behave with greed. I believe that the only way to correct the side effects does not come from suppressing the freedom, but rather by living the Christian perspective that expanded the freedom. Also, it is what economists previously assumed as moral philosophers. Adam Smith, who said that free economic activity brings prosperity to society, saw that humans behave according to the principle of sympathy, and that experiences such as continuous learning and reflection are accumulated. He presumed that people live according to the principle of sympathy, communicate with each other, and develop various virtues. He called them as moral sentiments. Modern economists were moral philosophers before they were economists and they were able to explore the nature of humans to contemplate an economic system suitable for human prosperity.

 

The Christian perspective, which was established and expanded after the Reformation, bloomed the perspective of freedom, which had an impact on each field of society. The freedom we enjoy has led to great prosperity economically, and freedom continues to expand. However, the depraved nature of man appeared as a side effect in the free market economy. Surprisingly, these side effects could not be solved by suppressing freedom, but by correctly establishing the Christian worldview from which the worldview of freedom began. The essence of freedom is freedom to believe in God, because when we correctly believe in God, humans naturally interact with each other and develop various virtues. These are the basic assumptions made by economists who supported a free market economy as moral philosophers at the same time. That's why I became supporting free-market system as a Christian after majoring in Economics.