One of my favorite columnists is Walter Williams. Dr. Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University. He is always insightful and very though-provoking.
I ran across a couple of his articles recently at TownHall.com and thought I would post a couple of them here.
The articles catching my eye have to do with poverty. The poor. Many nights, not all though, when my family and I sit down to dinner and thank God for our food, we acknowledge how really blessed we are to have that meal. We also acknowledge that in many parts of the world there are people who are hungry, living in poverty.
Now I have gone through tough times and have been down to scrounging around for pennies to be able to go and get some food. But, I have never actually lived in a sustained state of poverty. So my heart goes out to the poor and hungry.
There are many ways to provide relief for the poor and hungry. Of course I believe that these suffering people need the gospel. Everyone would agree that if you have to choose whether to give them food for their stomachs or spiritual food for their souls (the Gospel), then we should give them the spiritual food, the Gospel. But, I can’t imagine that relief workers have to face that choice very often.
No, if a starving man is standing in front of you, of course hand him some food AND tell him about the Food that sustains in this life and the next. We don’t have to choose; food or Food?
A friend has recently started a blog to keep folks like me up to speed with poverty and hunger, et al in the world. The blog is called Silence Encourages the Tormentor.
Now, to the first of Dr. Williams’ articles. It seems to me that Dr. Williams has hit on a cause of poverty and certainly part of the solution. I would like to hear your thoughts.
If you’re looking for a map of world poverty, check out the “2007 Index of Economic Freedom” jointly published by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. You might think that’s a strangely titled source for a poverty map.
The 13th edition of the “Index of Economic Freedom” examines 10 economic characteristics of 157 countries. Among those characteristics are property rights, monetary stability, and freedom from government, trade restrictions, business regulations and government corruption. Using these measures of economic freedom, countries are ranked.
Hong Kong and Singapore, as they have for 13 years, rank as the world’s two economically freest countries, with freedom scores of 89 and 86 percent free. Rounding out the top 10 most free economies are Australia (83), United States (82), New Zealand (82), United Kingdom (82), Ireland (81), Luxembourg (79), Switzerland (79) and Canada (79).
At the other end of the list are the least free countries. Ranking 157th, North Korea, with a freedom score of 3 percent, is the world’s least free country. Ranking 156th is Cuba, 30 percent free, and in ascending order are: Libya (34) Zimbabwe (36), Burma (40), Turkmenistan (42), Congo (43), Iran (43), Angola (43), and Guinea-Bassau (45).
The “2007 Index of Economic Freedom” displays a color-coded map showing countries that are free, mostly free, moderately free, mostly unfree and repressed. Guess where one finds the world’s most miserably poor people? If you guessed the mostly unfree and repressed countries, you guessed correctly.
Some people claim that some countries are rich because of abundant natural resources. That’s nonsense! Africa and South America are probably the richest continents in natural resources, but are home to some of the world’s poorest people. By contrast, countries like England, Japan and Hong Kong are poor in natural resources, but their people are among the world’s wealthiest. Hong Kong even has to import its food and water. Some people use the history of colonialism as an excuse for poverty. That’s also nonsense. The United States was a colony. So were Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, but they’re rich countries.
The reason some countries are rich while others are poor is best explained by the amount of economic freedom its peoples enjoy and the extent of government control over economic matters. Don’t make the mistake of equating economic freedom with democracy. After all, India, politically, is a democracy, but economically it is mostly unfree and poor, ranking 104th in economic freedom. There are countries on the economic freedom index that do not have much of a history of democracy, such as Chile, ranking 11th, and Taiwan, 26th, and yet these countries are far wealthier than some of their more democratic counterparts. Why? It’s because their economic systems are free or mostly free, which is not guaranteed by a democratic political system.
The economic development lesson is clear: Have a system of economic freedom and grow rich. Extensive government control, weak property rights and government corruption almost guarantee poverty. A country’s institutional infrastructure is critical to its economic growth and the well-being of its citizens. The most critical are protection of private property, enforcement of contracts and rule of law.
To help our fellow man around the world, we must convince him to create the institutional infrastructure for wealth creation. Foreign aid, International Monetary Fund bailouts and other handouts are not substitutes. They just make political survival possible for the elite whose self-serving policies keep a nation poor. Except for immediate disaster relief, foreign aid is probably the worst thing the West can do for poor countries. After all, how much foreign aid is necessary for a country to create the foundations for growth: rule of law, enforcement of contracts and private property rights protection?
Your thoughts?
November 30, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Very interesting….how can I see that map?
November 30, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Les, Williams is right to acknowledge the complexity of poverty as well as the necessity of economic freedom. Thankfully, the wealthier nations are starting to realize that foreign aid and handouts not only do not work, but they actually do more harm than good (except in times of emergency relief). Thankfully, there are numerous organizations that are in the business of working within communities to enact economic development and working within political systems working to free people economically. (If you didn’t know, this is the kind of work I am interested in doing) Because of our global economy now, however, poor countries are being left behind quickly since they are excluded from much of the global market activity, lack foreign investors etc.
I think this book I’m talking about on my blog will also be helpful in this overall discussion.
Also, there has been a rise in Christian organizations who are involved in economic development, not just hand outs. And they are doing it in the name of Jesus because they believe, as do I, that the gospel transforms the whole person, whole communities, economies etc. So, you are right, we dont have to choose between food and Food because spiritual wholeness affects the entire person. I have SO many thoughts about how the church can be involved in this endeavor in poor countries…you’ll probably hear more in the future on my blog!
Thank you so much for the post. Its always encouraging for me to see people talking about something that is so important to me and that I think is vitally important to Christian action in the world.
November 30, 2007 at 5:31 pm
You can see it here:
http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/