Who is Sovereign in Economics

What individual, group, or power is sovereign in economics? What is the final court of appeal? Economic theory alone cannot decide this, and this is an important judgment. It will fundamentally altar economic theory. For instance, Socialist economists would say the government is sovereign because they see the government as the agency that should own and control the means of production and subsequently the distribution of property. (This would lead to a irrational, chaotic, and impoverished society, but I digress.) Free-Market economists would say that the individual owner is sovereign because they are the ones who have rightful control over their property. These are rival theories that cannot be reconciled. I intend to cover the free-market view of sovereignty as that is the basis for my thinking.

It all starts when someone makes the assertion: “This is my property, you may not use it without my permission.” They are claiming to be the owner. Then this is followed by another person saying: “Oh yeah, who says?” There must be someone or something to back up the owner’s claim. This is the ultimate sovereign from which the owner derives their sovereignty over their property. To answer this question it is helpful to consider five points, which are as follows:

A. Who has ultimate power?
B. Who appoints the enforcers?
C. Who lays down the law?
D. Who establishes the sanctions?
E. Who rewards the faithful?

To find the sovereign of an economic theory one must find the “Who.” I believe that this sovereign is God. He has ultimate power, he appoints individual owners as his enforcers, he lays down the moral laws, he rewards or punishes people in history and the afterlife, and he rewards the faithful by allowing them into Heaven after they leave this world. I believe that the individual owner derives their sovereignty from God, and that God will be there to back up their claims of ownership.

To explain this further, lets go back in time to when theoretically the human race was just “starting out” and little to none of the land was owned. How does ownership get established? God blessed humanity to “Be fruitful, and multiply.” (Genesis, 1:28) Humanity was to become stewards of the land in the name of God. Therefore, ownership gets established when someone improves upon an existing, unowned piece of land. They have now become the steward of that property and shall own all the fruits that property produces as well, as they came from the land that they own. The owner then passes down this ownership to their designated heirs. Alternatively, they can sell it, which transfers the responsibility of stewardship to someone else and consequently the ownership. This is how ownership is established, and it gives people a right to their property.

When a thief attempts to steal someone else’s property I believe God will inflict negative sanctions upon them in life or after death. The thief has no right to someone else’s property; they were never stewards of that property. They did nothing to improve upon it nor did they buy or inherit it. They are breaking God’s law when they attempt to steal it from the rightful owner. The Ten Commandments explicitly say this: “Thou shalt not steal.” (Exodus, 20:15) “Thou shalt not covet…” (Exodus, 20:17). God is saying he will back up the individual owner’s claim to their property.

I believe this same rule applies to when the government steals someone’s property. They are no different from the thief when they tax away people’s money. The government still uses force or the threat thereof to steal (tax) from people. It is essentially no different from the thief who sticks a gun into someone’s belly. Except that the government official wears a suit and has a trinket called a badge, (and that somehow justifies their actions). The bottom line is that theft is theft no matter who/what commits it. God is the ultimate sovereign and he will uphold people’s claims to ownership if they are the rightful steward of that property. That is my view of sovereignty in economics.

What if Nature is Sovereign?

An alternative view of sovereignty that can also lead one down the path of free-market economic is the view that nature is sovereign. This is the evolutionist/survival of the fittest view of economics. They see nature as the ultimate sovereign and derive property rights in a similar way except God is removed from the equation. To use similar language, they believe humans steward the land in the name of Nature. I do not believe this way, but I suspect it is a popular viewpoint today. I believe there is a big flaw with this system, and that is that it is devoid of morality. This is because under nature the only thing that matters are secular, natural laws.

For example, most people think that murder is wrong. This is a Christian moral value. But under a system where nature is sovereign there is no way to tell if murder is wrong or not. The natural world does not show that there are any laws against murder. Wild animals fight and murder members of their own species all the time. Therefore, if one stays consistent with this view of sovereignty, murder could be justified. Nature would not be there to judge and condemn murderers. In fact, it could be scientifically deduced that Nature allows murder because it happens in the natural world.

The concept that murder is wrong comes from the West’s historically Christian society. It is right there in the Ten Commandments “You shall not kill.” (Exodus, 20:13) Under this system God does play an active role. God is there to judge foul people like murderers and punish them in life or in eternity. God is there to tell everyone that murder is wrong. Society is structured to punish murders because most people want to follow God’s laws, so they are not punished. Nature does none of these things. This is not an expressly economic issue, however I believe it is a fundamental flaw in this view of sovereignty that must be addressed.

Conclusion

There is always an ultimate sovereign in economics because there must be someone to back up the owner’s claim to ownership. All of economic theory rests on concepts that come from the fact that individuals (or the government if one is a socialist) own property, and have knowledge about that property. I believe that God is this ultimate sovereign. (The government certainly is not sovereign; I can think of no rational reason to think so.) God backs up an owner’s claim to ownership if they are the rightful steward of that property. He establishes moral laws that are his means for doing this. The alternative view of nature as sovereign is devoid of these moral laws, and I believe this makes it fundamentally flawed. Therefore, I see God as the ultimate sovereign in economics.