This episode features another segment from the ACE panel on economic justice from the 2021 ASSA meetings. We start by hearing Enoch Hill’s presentation about the economic justice lessons that can be drawn from the Jubilee prescriptions from the Old Testament. Then I interview Enoch about his presentation and we dig into the arguments he raises. Along the way, we discuss the degree to which the Old Testament laws encouraged redistribution and capital accumulation, and the connection to education in our modern economy.

Enoch Hill is an associate professor of economics at Wheaton College, where he specializes in macroeconomics. He also serves as the secretary for the Association of Christian Economists, and one of the lead researchers behind the National Covid-19 Church Attendance Project (https://churchattendanceproject.org/).

Talking about economic justice requires some care and precision, particularly in a politically polarized time in history, and so I think it is important for economists to have conversations in which we bring our best work forward and think about what justice looks like in economic life. Each of the conversations in this series have exemplified the kinds of work that I think is really valuable, and this conversation is no exception.

Economic Justice and Jubilee by Enoch Hill. Faith & Economics, Spring 2021

Aquinas and the Market: Toward a Humane Economy, by Mary Hirschfeld (Harvard University Press, 2018). Those interested can also check out the review symposium on Hirschfeld’s book from the Fall 2019 issue of Faith & Economics.

This episode is the second in our series on economic justice, this time featuring Daniel Finn. We start with a recording of Dan’s presentation from our January panel, in which we asked four scholars to respond to the prompt: “What Does a Christian Vision for Economic Justice Require of United States Policy Regarding Taxation and Government Spending?” Dan’s response is also available in print in the Spring 2021 issue of Faith & Economics, and is titled “Four Myths Concerning Taxation and Government Spending.” After his presentation, which lasts about just under 12 minutes, we jump right into a conversation, recorded after, about the arguments that Dan raises.

Dan is the is a Professor of Theology and a Professor of Economics at St. John’s University in Minnesota. He is a former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, the Society of Christian Ethics, and the Association for Social Economics. He is the author or editor of 12 books and numerous articles most of which operate at the intersection of theology, moral philosophy, and economics. I have been learning from his work for years, and have often used his essays in class, so it is a real pleasure for me to be able to have this conversation with him.

Our conversation starts out by talking about the nature of individual moral obligation in the economy and then delves into public policy, pragmatic and ideal priorities, and how we should think about the welfare state. Dan stakes out a progressive position but is keen to always hold to both our individual obligations to be virtuous and also our call to create a just society in which people’s basic needs are taken care of.

“Four Myths Concerning Taxation and Government Spending.” Faith & Economics, Spring 2021

Daniel Finn’s Page at St. John’s University

In January 2021 at the ASSA meetings the Association of Christian Economists hosted two academic sessions. One of those was a panel of theologians and economists, all tasked with answering the following question: “What does a Christian Vision for Economic Justice Require of United States Policy Regarding Taxation and Government Spending?” The four participants were John Anderson, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Daniel Finn from St. John’s University, Enoch Hill from Wheaton College, and Christina McRorie from Creighton University.

Over the course of four episodes, we are sharing each of the presentations from that panel discussion, followed by a longer interview conversation in which we dig into the ideas in their remarks. If you prefer, you can also go and read printed versions of each of the panelists’ contributions, which appear in the Spring 2021 issue of Faith & Economics.

Today, we lead off with John Anderson. John is the Baird Family Professor of Economics at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and the Executive Director of the Central Plains Research Data Center. John is an established leader in the field of public finance, with numerous publications including a textbook on the topic. John has also served on the President’s council of economic advisors in 2005 and 2006, and has advised foreign governments on taxation and government budget issues, as he discusses in our conversation here.

John has, over the years, turned some of his scholarly attention to thinking about Biblical principles for taxation, spending, and government debt, and since that is the topic of our conversation, you can find links to some of that writing in the notes to this episode.

What I appreciate about John’s contribution is that he has a flexible and pragmatic approach to these policy questions. He does not think that God ordains specific tax laws or rules for government debt. At the same time, he finds lots of broad guidance in scripture for how we should think about these policies. I suspect I could have pushed him to a point where we found real disagreement on some policy questions, but that would have been a bit of a distraction. His real message is that there are different legitimate priorities that we need to balance and that we need to pay attention to the long-term consequences of our choices.

What Does the Lord Require? A Christian Perspective on Justice in Public Finance - Faith & Economics, Spring 2021. (http://christianeconomists.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-Spring-Anderson.pdf)

Government Debt and Deficits - Faith & Economics, Spring/Fall 2013. (http://christianeconomists.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2013-Fall-Anderson.pdf)

A Biblical and Economic Analysis of Jubilee Property Provisions - Faith & Economics, Fall 2005.

(http://christianeconomists.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2005-Fall-Anderson.pdf)