This summer, I stopped by my local farmers’ market and bought a small bag of chanterelle mushrooms from a vendor who sells foraged food. He seemed knowledgeable and confident, and I trusted him. But when I got home, I paused. I had no way of knowing for sure that these mushrooms were safe to eat. I looked at them closely for about a minute, and then I tossed them in a saute pan with butter. Why? I believed the vendor had a reason to be trustworthy. He wants customers to return and recommend his mushrooms to others.
When I read Mere Economics by Drs. Art Carden and Caleb Fuller, I reflected on the mushrooms I enjoyed and realized that I experienced the quiet power of the market at work. That simple exchange illustrates a profound reality that Carden and Fuller bring to light: trade is relational and markets create opportunities for human cooperation and flourishing, often in ways we take for granted.
The Economics of the Everyday
In Mere Economics, Carden and Fuller offer a thoughtful and engaging introduction to economic thinking grounded in a Christian worldview. The title is a deliberate nod to C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, and the book follows in the tradition of economists Henry Hazlitt (see: Economics in One Lesson), Joseph Schumpeter (see: Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy), and theologians C.S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer. Each chapter ends with a reflection titled “How Should We Then Live?”—an echo of Schaeffer’s classic—that helps readers apply the lessons of economics to everyday life, from grocery shopping to public policy.
The authors describe why they wrote the book, saying, “Ultimately, mere economics helps us grasp the nonnegotiable principles of Our Father’s world so that our attempts at helping, improving, subduing, filling, and cultivating actually accomplish those goals.”
They were also featured in our recent special report published by The Washington Times, and in their article, they highlight how grasping the basic principles of economics reveals the God at work around us:
Economic history’s great fact is made up of countless tiny ones. When you study economics, you start to notice all the little social miracles surrounding us… Some people don’t see the miracle and argue that economics lacks a soul, that it reduces rich and complex human relationships to mere transactions.
Another contributor, economist Victor Claar, agrees, suggesting glorifying God in praise as an appropriate response when you understand how God has ordered the economy to function. “Just as German astronomer Johannes Kepler was alleged to sing songs of praise when he considered the ordering of the universe,” Claar wrote, “economists should probably be singing, too, in wonder at the unseen ordering of markets.”
This book ought to be read by anyone seeking to better understand why the movement of goods and services is as miraculous as the movement of the stars and planets. However, the book doesn’t shy away from timely or controversial topics. Carden and Fuller tackle trade, tariffs, immigration, and price controls with clarity and wit, helping readers understand the real human impact of policies. Their tone is charitable and winsome, making this book suitable for classrooms, small group studies, or personal exploration.
What Do We Value?
Speaking of classrooms, I kick off my marketing classes every semester with an activity called the “trading game” that I learned from Dr. Anne Bradley. Each student received a bag of small items (snacks, candy, and practical things like pencils and dryer sheets). I ask students to rate their happiness with what they received to get a baseline “happiness score.” Then we do a few rounds of trading; first within small groups, and then with the whole class.
In both classes that played this game this semester, students’ final happiness scores were about 40% higher after the trading rounds were completed. Nothing new was added to the “market.” We simply allowed voluntary exchange. Some students were hungry, some needed laundry supplies, and others had access to those things elsewhere. Different people valued different items, and through trade, they were able to access more of what they valued.
This is the central insight in Mere Economics — economics doesn’t tell us what we ought to value. However, it does help us understand how to get more of what we value. That’s not a small thing. In fact, it’s one of the ways God allows us to serve one another and contribute to the flourishing of our communities and the world. That sounds pretty miraculous to me.
Editor’s Note: You can order Mere Economics by Drs. Art Carden and Caleb Fuller here. Read an excerpt from the book here.
