Economic Creationism Fails to Explain Reality
Before Darwin, people assumed a supernatural being created all biological adaptations. It was radical to think complex structures like the eye could develop without a designer. Creationism is flawed because it fails to answer, among other things, “Who created the designer?” Darwin’s theory explained adaptations in living organisms better than all rival theories. So, biologists today can’t help but take Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection seriously to understand life. In economics, “central planning” is the counterpart to creationism. Central planning claims a top-down planner is necessary for prosperity and order in society. I call this “economic creationism” to distinguish it from biological creationism. Both ideas, though still popular, are false. But economic creationism threatens our prosperity far more. Economic creationists believe a central planner can fix all problems with the right laws and solutions. Workers getting low wages? Just make businesses pay a high minimum wage. Problem solved. They forget that prices exist for a reason. Prices signal what people want in a world of scarcity, much like language conveys thoughts. Both prices and language emerge bottom-up and enable large-scale coordination. No central planner created a successful language; it emerged organically from the ground up. In a free market, prices (tend to) balance supply and demand. If prices shift from this balance, the market corrects itself, returning prices to balance supply and demand. When the government sets prices, it disrupts this equilibrium. Price controls merely hide costs instead of reducing them. As Thomas Sowell said, “Reality doesn’t change when the government changes price tags.” The world is too complex for one central planner to manage. Yet, economic creationists believe only in authoritarian solutions. A plane crashed? The government should regulate the industry. A plane crashed even with regulations in place? See, that’s why we need more government intervention. Ironically, both biological and economic creationism undervalue creation. If a supernatural creator made the universe, the true creator of Darwin’s (or any other great scientist’s) theory would be the supernatural being, not the scientist. Creationism denies the actual creation of the scientist’s discoveries. And it truly is creation. Before a discovery, no prediction can reveal its content or consequences. If it could, it would be the discovery itself. As David Deutsch explains in The Beginning of Infinity, scientific discovery is unpredictable, even though it’s determined by physics. Hence, creationism is wrongly named. It doesn’t explain knowledge as creation but denies actual creation by placing knowledge origin in an unexplained realm. Creationism is actually creation denial. Economic creationists see wealth as a fixed pie. They think we already have enough resources, but some people have more than their “fair share” and must redistribute their wealth to those “in need.” They believe redistributing wealth by force will make everyone happy. Economic creationism ignores the true wealth creation that occurs when ideas produce goods people buy for more than their production cost. Even many free-market “proponents” fail to apply our best understanding of economics universally. They want the government limited to making laws, enforcing them, and resolving disputes. But that begs the question: why those fields and not others? If the government is incompetent at producing goods like cars and phones, why trust it with arguably more serious matters such as making, enforcing, and arbitrating laws? Just like evolution doesn’t leave the creation of some species to a god, economic principles apply to all scarce resources. We can’t selectively apply these principles. My friend Logan Chipkin, who introduced me to “economic creationism,” sums up the radical implications of economics in nine words: “You cannot coerce your way to a better world.” Economic creationists deny this and advocate force as the only solution. Further ReadingEconomic Creationism by Logan Chipkin Economics: A Universal Acid by Logan Chipkin Chapter 4: Creation of The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch |
Older messages
#29 – Ashley St. Clair: Immigration Crisis, Free Speech, and Birth Control
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Listen now (42 mins) | Ashley St. Clair is the Operations Manager at Babylon Bee and author of the children's book Elephants Are Not Birds. This interview was recorded on Airchat. Topics we discuss
#28 – Matthew Lysiak: Fiat Food, Bitcoin, and Fake Science
Monday, May 6, 2024
Listen now (38 mins) | Matthew Lysiak is an investigative journalist and author of Fiat Food: Why Inflation Destroyed Our Health and How Bitcoin Fixes It. Topics we discuss are well captured by the
The Price of “Free”
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Why the Government Cannot Escape Economic Reality to Provide Your Needs. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
#27 – Farbood Nivi: Follistatin Gene Therapy, E/Acc, and Following Your Heart
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Watch now (70 mins) | Farbood Nivi is the founder of Grockit (acquired by Kaplan in 2013). He has been biohacking for 25 years. Recently, he became one of the first 200 people in the world to receive
It’s Impossible to Justify Predictions from Evidence. Here’s Why.
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Imagine a chicken on a farm who sees the farmer bring it food every morning. Every day, the chicken watches the farmer come with food, making it think that the farmer always brings food. But one day,
You Might Also Like
The uncomfortable truth (of a pie chart)
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Are you “intellectually happy?” ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Kindle & Paperback Book • Just in Time for Christmas: Tales of Romance
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Another great book deal awaits! Welcome to ContentMo's Book of the Day Four Tales in One
5 Promises of Embracing a Minimalist Life
Saturday, October 5, 2024
5 Promises of Embracing a Minimalist Life Last week, a kickoff call with my HarperCollins' marketing team left me reflecting on the promises of a minimalist life. I presented my book (coming early
Growing a marketing agency from €900K to €3 Million Revenue in 3 years
Friday, October 4, 2024
Growth Story Inside ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
🎤 The SWIPES Email (Friday, October 4th, 2024)
Friday, October 4, 2024
The SWIPES Email Friday, October 4th, 2024 An educational (and fun) email by Copywriting Course. Enjoy! 🎤 Listen to this email here: Swipe: When reviewing people's websites, a cause of
Email Marketing for Authors w/our Saturday Books Newsletter to Readers
Friday, October 4, 2024
Get emailed to our mailing list. enable images to see this Welcome to Saturdays Newsletter Book
Out-of-the-Box Benefits
Friday, October 4, 2024
Nurture your paid subscribers. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Lucky number 13?
Thursday, October 3, 2024
Hey No name, We just added something thing really cool to our Main Street Over Wall Street Event (and only 13 tickets remain!) Introducing: High- Impact Breakout Sessions We've curated an
🤯 You Will Be Left Behind (Unless You Do This)
Thursday, October 3, 2024
Making better decisions, building a winning business, and leveraging the single biggest unlock of all (that no one really talks about) The Ultimate Unlock (That No One Talks About) Contrarians, Today
It's Live!!
Thursday, October 3, 2024
Read in your browser here. Writing Examples is live! Here's the site. Here's the launch tweet. We built this website to celebrate great writing. It's 100% free. Each article