I had the opportunity to meet a young student thinking about the economics major a few days ago, and he mentioned that he hoped to go to the UN to help the poor after graduation with development economics.  We talked about the major, but I suggested he think about how the poor are most likely to be helped, and I told him the subject line–people and nations are poor because they don’t produce enough.  This is an obvious general truth, and a point that is tremendously helpful at providing clarity in how we help the poor, whether an individual or a nation.  Of course there are exceptions–somebody may be poor because of a costly medical issue, or someone may have robbed them recently of everything they owned.  These situations call for mercy and charity to assist.  But for most situations, people are poor because they don’t produce enough, at least relative to their spending.  Yes, they may just spend too much, but then we wouldn’t think of them as poor, as their conspicuous consumption wouldn’t look very poor.

Some may disagree with me by saying that this seems to blame the poor for being poor.  I would argue that it is not a question of who is to blame, but how do we fix the problem?  The great benefit of my point is that it guides us as to the best way to help.  When people are poor because they don’t produce enough, the obvious remedy is to help them produce more.   It doesn’t much matter how they got there (whether through injustice or their own fault), it much more matters how do we help get them out of a bad situation?  Further, it helps focus on what the individual can do, and what we can do to help them.  For example, it doesn’t do particularly much good to blame poverty in Africa on colonialism (even if true).  The real question is what do we do about it now?  We should want to help people by making them more productive in the global market economy, helping them achieve the life skills that will make them effective servants of others in a market setting.  The more effectively they can ultimately serve others in markets, the more productive they are, and the more handsomely they will be remunerated.

While this logic could be applied by anybody, secular or religious, a Christian worldview adds to the mix.  We know that work was created before the fall, and that work is inherent to human dignity as we act in accordance with our being created in the image of God.  Our work is an expression of our stewardship of creation, and when we are poor, it is an indication that there are opportunities for more effective stewardship.  For those looking from the outside, the charge is to help those that are not as productive become more productive, whether their individual abilities are small or great.  Whether they have two talents or five talents, we want them to hear “well done.”

So in my counsel to this student, I suggested that the UN might be a good place to get an appreciation for the problem, but perhaps a more effective way for him to support development is to actually go and start a business in one of these nations. If he did that he could employ local workers and help develop their skills and habits that they might be increasingly productive.  And then I suspect he will hear the verdict, “well done thou good and faithful servant”!

PS:  I gave him a copy of the Poverty Cure video series; I recommend it to all of you (snippet below).