Our vision of economic wisdom is summarized in twelve “elements” that provide starting points for thoughtful, biblically informed understanding of contemporary opportunities and challenges.
For a handy guide, download this one-page summary of the twelve elements, taken from our EWP vision paper “A Christian Vision for Flourishing Communities.”
For a fuller discussion, download our EWP paper “Twelve Elements of Economic Wisdom,” which expresses how we see each of these elements bringing a life-giving biblical and theological witness into the contemporary economy.
For a really deep dive, download our 140 pages of published research notes on the biblical, theological and historical support for each element, generated while we were first composing the twelve elements.
Or just click below for more on each element:
Stewardship and Flourishing
We were given stewardship over the world so our work would make it flourish for his glory.
1. We have a stewardship responsibility to flourish in our own lives, to help our neighbors flourish as fellow stewards, and to pass on a flourishing economy to future generations. (PDF) (one-pager)
2. Economies flourish when people have integrity and trust each other. (PDF) (one-pager)
3. In general, people flourish when they take responsibility for their own economic success by doing work that serves others and makes the world better. (PDF) (one-pager)
Value Creation
Through economic exchange, we work together and create value for one another.
4. Real economic success is about how much value you create, not how much money you make. (PDF) (one-pager)
5. A productive economy comes from the value-creating work of free and virtuous people. (PDF) (one-pager)
6. Economies generally flourish when policies and practices reward value creation. (PDF) (one-pager)
Productivity and Opportunity
Economic systems should be grounded in human dignity and moral character.
7. Households, businesses, communities and nations should support themselves by producing more than they consume. (PDF) (one-pager)
8. A productive economy lifts people out of poverty and generally helps people flourish. (PDF) (one-pager)
9. The most effective way to turn around poverty, economic distress and injustice is by expanding opportunity for people to develop and deploy their God-given productive potential in communities of exchange, especially through entrepreneurship. (PDF) (one-pager)
Responsible Action
Economic systems should practice and encourage a hopeful realism.
10. Programs aimed at economic problems need a fully rounded understanding of how people flourish. (PDF) (one-pager)
11. Economic thinking must account for long-term effects and unintended consequences. (PDF) (one-pager)
12. In general, economies flourish when goodwill is universal and global, but control is local and personal knowledge guides decisions. (PDF) (one-pager)