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Religious Influences on Economic Thinking: The Origins of Modern Economics
How religious thinking was—and remains—a central influence shaping economics.
The conventional view of economics is that the field was a product of the Enlightenment and, therefore, bore no relation to religious ideas. But is this true? In Religious Influences on Economic Thinking, Benjamin Friedman shows that religious thinking was, in fact, a powerful force in shaping the initial development of modern Western economics and that it has remained an influence on economic thinking ever since. Friedman argues that an important influence enabling the insights of Adam Smith and his contemporaries was the new and highly controversial line of religious thinking at that time in the English-speaking Protestant world.
Friedman explains that the influence of religious thinking on modern economic thought at the field’s inception established resonances that have persisted through the subsequent centuries, even as the economic context has evolved and the questions economists ask have shifted along with it. Because we are largely not conscious of these influences, neither in the past nor as they are at work today, we are sometimes puzzled when we stumble across evidence of them—for example, in the otherwise hard-to-explain attitudes that many of our fellow citizens express on issues like estate taxes, business regulation, and environmental restrictions. But they are still at work. Understanding them can only enhance the economics profession’s capacity to contribute to our ongoing public discussion of the important questions on which the discipline so usefully bears.
The conventional view of economics is that the field was a product of the Enlightenment and, therefore, bore no relation to religious ideas. But is this true? In Religious Influences on Economic Thinking, Benjamin Friedman shows that religious thinking was, in fact, a powerful force in shaping the initial development of modern Western economics and that it has remained an influence on economic thinking ever since. Friedman argues that an important influence enabling the insights of Adam Smith and his contemporaries was the new and highly controversial line of religious thinking at that time in the English-speaking Protestant world.
Friedman explains that the influence of religious thinking on modern economic thought at the field’s inception established resonances that have persisted through the subsequent centuries, even as the economic context has evolved and the questions economists ask have shifted along with it. Because we are largely not conscious of these influences, neither in the past nor as they are at work today, we are sometimes puzzled when we stumble across evidence of them—for example, in the otherwise hard-to-explain attitudes that many of our fellow citizens express on issues like estate taxes, business regulation, and environmental restrictions. But they are still at work. Understanding them can only enhance the economics profession’s capacity to contribute to our ongoing public discussion of the important questions on which the discipline so usefully bears.
- GenresEconomics
97 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 6, 2024
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About the author
Benjamin M. Friedman
31 books21 followersBenjamin Morton Friedman (born 1944) is a leading American political economist. Friedman is the William Joseph Maier Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institute's Panel on Economic Activity, and the editorial board of the Encyclopædia Britannica.
Friedman received his A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees, all in economics, from Harvard University. He also received an M.Sc. in economics and politics from King's College, Cambridge where he was a Marshall Scholar. He has been on the Harvard faculty since 1972. Currently Friedman is a member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation.
Friedman received his A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees, all in economics, from Harvard University. He also received an M.Sc. in economics and politics from King's College, Cambridge where he was a Marshall Scholar. He has been on the Harvard faculty since 1972. Currently Friedman is a member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation.
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December 29, 2024
A pleasant short lecture that very broadly covers the topics Friedman studies. The ideas contained in this book are probably heavily expanded upon in his other works, and this should probably be read as an introduction to his body of work that connects normative ways of viewing the world to economic thought, specifically Religion and the Rise of Capitalism. If that book expands on the sound argument contained within this lecture, I'm sure I will also find that a pleasant read.
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