Keynote II: Economics and Theology of the Community Mechanism

In the coming years, the community mechanism will become increasingly important to complement the workings of markets and the public sector for such socioeconomic problems as catastrophes, infectious diseases, widening intergenerational disparities due to falling birthrates and aging populations, and fiscal pressures. As the population ages, the number of people with cognitive decline increases. Since it is difficult for people with cognitive problems to utilize markets on their own, activation of community mechanisms will be even more necessary in the future. It is also difficult for children to utilize the market by themselves. As gender equality becomes more important, the community mechanism will also become more important for childcare. Therefore, there is an increasing need to activate the community mechanism. Theology can be used for economic research of the community mechanism in two ways. First, direct applications are possible. An example is to learn the type of leadership that is ideal to activate the community mechanism by building and developing a community taught in the Bible. Second, indirect applications are possible. An example is Augustine’s two conditions for the blessed life. Because how members of a community view happiness have important impacts on it, his two conditions can be used as guiding principles for research even when the spiritual aspect of these two conditions are not explicitly discussed.