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toxic assumptions Archives - Eve Poole

May 23
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Joy and Prosperity

By | Theology | No Comments

Paper given at the University of Aberdeen, 11 May 2017 

Luke 18:22-3 ‘Jesus said, “You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” But when the rich young man heard this, he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy.’

The hypothesis of this Joy and Prosperity event is that Christians have traditionally driven a wedge between them. A bit like the rich young man, there has been a feeling that you can’t have both joy and prosperity: blessed are the poor. Today we are testing that assumption, and my contribution is to look at the question through the lens of the axioms of classical economic thought. Read More

Jan 29
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7 Deadly Sins – capitalism’s flat-earth problem and what to do about it

By | Business | No Comments

JustShare Lecture – St Mary-le-Bow Church – 29 January 2014 at 6.05pm

In general, market capitalism depends on 7 big ideas. Economists like to look scientific, so they tend to present these ideas as laws of nature. But even scientific truth is not this fixed, and the flat-earthers have moved on. But not so the Economists. The 7 big ideas that served the market so well in the past have now become sins not virtues, and are toxic to its future. And unless we correct the system at a fundamental level, reform is doomed to fail. But where to start? Tonight I’ll start with a quick run down on Capitalism’s 7 Deadly Sins. Then I will talk about the theology that informs my critique and ask some tricky questions. After all, it’s hardly fair to attack the market’s beliefs without being candid about my own. Finally, I’ll suggest ways in which Christians everywhere can get involved in the market’s reform.

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Oct 02
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Head West?

By | Business | No Comments

Currently I am addicted to The Wire. When I last saw Dominic West in action, he was Edward Voysey in Barker’s The Voysey Inheritance at The National. Both are essentially about economics. The Voysey Inheritance is the story of a son finding out that his father, a much-respected solicitor, has been speculating with his clients’ capital, paying them an ordinary rate of interest and pocketing the difference. Written in Home Counties 1905, the world it portrays is vastly different from the world of The Wire, which is about drugs and corruption in modern-day Baltimore. Read More

May 15
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love your enemies – the business case?

By | Business | No Comments

If one applies market thinking to capitalism, it becomes apparent that capitalism is in danger of becoming a monopoly. This movement towards supremacy appears to lie at the heart of much of its current shortcomings – being the only game in town means that capitalism owns the rules, with the old adage that absolute power corrupts absolutely. What should capitalism do to save itself from the torpor of monopoly? It should cherish its rivals, realising that without them to keep it honest, it will fail. Rather than fighting them, capitalism should take a lesson from Axelrod’s Prisoner’s Dilemma competition and strive to win against itself, rather than by competing head-to-head. And might co-opetition – with apologies to Nash, Axelrod, Nalebuff and Brandenburger, increase the total set of outcomes?