Daniel Wilmoth

Jeff Bezos took a big gamble when he founded Amazon to sell books online. He left a lucrative job at a hedge fund and moved across the country with his wife to be near the largest book warehouse in the world. They ran Amazon out of their two-bedroom home, using desks Bezos made from doors. His parents invested much of their life savings. Bezos told them Amazon would probably fail.

Instead, the success of Amazon transformed his life. Amazon is worth about two trillion dollars today, one of only about a dozen businesses with a valuation that requires thirteen digits. For a time, Bezos was the richest man in the world. He now has homes scattered across the country, and he can live in luxury around the globe aboard his $500 million yacht.

Commerce has also transformed our lives. In his 1776 Wealth of Nations, pioneering economist Adam Smith describes the transformation of the world we now call the Industrial Revolution. Expanding markets enabled increased specialization, and increased specialization fostered technological innovation. Much of the world today lives in a comfort and safety that would have been nearly unimaginable before the Industrial Revolution.

However, our experience of life is shaped as much by our attitudes as our circumstances. Joy can be found even in trying circumstances, and misery even in comfortable. Much of religion and moral philosophy addresses attitude. The effect of commerce on our lives may therefore depend not only on how commerce shapes our circumstances, but also on how it shapes our attitudes.

Modern economics focuses on circumstances, but Smith was a moral philosopher, and he also investigated the relationship between commerce and character. For example, he compares the effects of trading with the public favorably to those of depending on the largesse of royalty.

In mercantile and manufacturing towns, …they are in general industrious, sober, and thriving…. In those towns which are principally supported by the…residence of a court, …they are in general idle, dissolute, and poor….¹

However, Smith does not believe that all of the effects of commerce are positive. For example, the Industrial Revolution created many highly repetitive manufacturing jobs, and Smith worries about the stultifying effects of such repetition.

The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects, too, are perhaps always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding, or to exercise his invention, in finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion….²

Many religious and philosophical traditions emphasize our attitudes toward others. For example, in Christian scripture, when Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment, he responds with a commandment about loving God and then continues, “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:39 NIV). We interact with others through markets, so markets may shape our attitudes toward others. In one famous passage, Smith notes the role of self interest in commerce.

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.³

Markets create conflict between our interests and those of our neighbors. Sellers compete with one another for buyers, and buyers compete with one another for goods. Employers compete for employees, and employees compete for jobs. Sellers haggle with buyers over prices, and employers haggle with employees over wages. Indeed, as Smith emphasizes, markets require competition to function well.

However, Smith still characterizes commerce as a “a bond of union and friendship.”⁴ A striking aspect of Smith’s passage on the role of self interest in markets is that the participants are, in fact, considering the interests of their trading partners. Because market exchange is voluntary, we cannot advance our interests without advancing the interests of others. Our neighbors will not trade with us unless they also benefit. Smith writes,

The real and effectual discipline which is exercised over a workman is…that of his customers. It is the fear of losing their employment which restrains his frauds and corrects his negligence.⁵

Bezos understands the power of the customer. In his annual letters to Amazon shareholders, he describes his focus on customers again and again. For example, in his 1998 letter, he writes,

We intend to build the world’s most customer-centric company…. I constantly remind our employees to be afraid, to wake up every morning terrified. Not of our competition, but of our customers. Our customers have made our business what it is, they are the ones with whom we have a relationship, and they are the ones to whom we owe a great obligation….⁶

Bezos also warns about focusing exclusively on our own interests. In his letters and speeches, he describes the difference between missionaries and mercenaries. Mercenaries care only about money. Missionaries are trying to improve the world. Bezos wants a team of missionaries, because “missionaries build better products.”⁷

Missionaries love their product…and love their customers…. By the way, the great paradox here is that it’s usually the missionaries who make more money….⁸

Bezos benefitted investors as well as customers. Although Bezos built a vast fortune for himself, the majority of the value he created accrued to others. In a 2018 speech, after Forbes magazine declared him the richest person in the world, Bezos says,

It’s something people are naturally curious about, but I have never sought the title of “world’s richest man.” …if you look at the financial success of Amazon and the stock, I own 16 percent of Amazon. Amazon’s worth roughly $1 trillion. That means that over twenty years we have built $840 billion of wealth for other people…and that’s great. That’s how it should be.⁹

Elsewhere, Bezos explains how the success of Amazon funded the retirement of many through pension and mutual funds. Among those who retired more comfortably were his parents, whose savings he gambled when he founded Amazon. That modest initial investment has been estimated to have grown to tens of billions of dollars.

Commerce has the potential to shape both our circumstances and our attitudes. Although markets provide opportunities to improve our own circumstances, markets also force us to consider the interests of others. Because market exchange is voluntary, we profit only by offering what others want. Through markets, we take care of ourselves by taking care of others.

1. Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Amherst, New York: Prometheus, 1991), 275 – 276. ↑
2. Smith, Wealth of Nations, 637. ↑
3. Smith, Wealth of Nations, 20. ↑
4. Smith, Wealth of Nations, 382. ↑
5. Smith, Wealth of Nations, 138. ↑
6. Jeff Bezos and Walter Isaacson, Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos (Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2021), 39 – 40. ↑
7. Bezos and Isaacson, Invent and Wander, 83. ↑
8. Bezos and Isaacson, Invent and Wander, 216. ↑
9. Bezos and Isaacson, Invent and Wander, 205. ↑

Markets are how we take care of people we don’t know.

Nicholas Stern, as quoted in The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

In the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, spiky-haired young Calvin creates chaos as he navigates a world transformed by his imagination. Teachers and parents become aliens and dinosaurs. His stuffed tiger Hobbes prowls by his side, commenting skeptically and refusing to eat his bully because “[f]at kids are high in cholesterol.”

Calvin and Hobbes was created by Bill Watterson, who studied political science while considering a career as an editorial cartoonist. The stuffed tiger Hobbes is named after the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who, as Watterson put it, held a “dim view of humanity.” Hobbes is best known for Leviathan, published in 1651, where he argues in favor of absolute monarchy as a response to inherent human aggression.

…in the first place, I put for a general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death…. Competition of riches, honour, command, or other power, inclineth to contention, enmity, and war; because the way of one competitor to the attaining of his desire is to kill, subdue, supplant, or repel the other. ¹

Hobbes believes our selfish desires create perpetual conflict. We can escape that conflict by agreeing to grant a monopoly on violence to a sovereign power. The sovereign power then enforces a peace under which we can all flourish.

…during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war, and such a war as is of every man against every man…. In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently…no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all, continual fear of danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. ²

For Hobbes, the role of the sovereign is defined by the use of force. We find a very different view of government in the teaching of Confucius. Confucius was a moral and political philosopher in ancient China, and Chinese civil servants were trained in his philosophy for thousands of years. Confucius teaches that the proper focus of rulers is not on controlling the public but on controlling themselves.

Ji Kangzi asked Confucius about governing.

Confucius responded, “To ‘govern’ means to be ‘correct’. If you set an example by being correct yourself, who will dare to be incorrect?” ³

Continue reading “Confucius and Hobbes”

Ji Kangzi was concerned about the prevalence of robbers in Lu and asked Confucius about how to deal with this problem.

Confucius said, “If you could just get rid of your own excessive desires, the people would not steal even if you rewarded them for it.”

Analects 12.18

Dave Ramsey has made a lot of money by talking about money. He peddles financial advice based on the Bible. He started with a radio show, then expanded into newspapers, live events, and popular books. He even sold an “Act Your Wage!” board game with the tagline “First player out of debt wins!”

Eliminating debt is Ramsey’s passion. He counsels listeners to avoid all debt, to pay cash for their houses and perform “plastic surgery” by cutting up their credit cards. The box for the “Act Your Wage!” game features Ramsey holding a credit card between scissor blades. He likes quoting a verse from Proverbs,

The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is slave to the lender. (Proverbs 22:7 NIV)

Ramsey helps listeners escape the burden of debt. However, debt is not always a burden, and those who have escaped debt may still have unhealthy relationships with money. To make good financial decisions, we should look beyond simple rules like avoiding debt and examine our attitudes. Proverbs teaches that our attitudes shape our lives.

As water reflects the face,
so one’s life reflects the heart. (Proverbs 27:19 NIV)

Continue reading “The mirror of the heart”

Prepare your work outside;
get everything ready for yourself in the field,
and after that build your house.

Proverbs 24:27 ESV

In his 1987 movie Wall Street, Oliver Stone tells the story of Gordon Gekko, a stock speculator who will do anything to win. He lies to partners, spies on competitors, and trades on inside information. Gekko defends his greed in a speech inspired by a real speculator of the era, Ivan Boesky.

…Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works…. Greed, in all of its forms…has marked the upward surge of mankind….

The claim that greed “has marked the upward surge of mankind” finds some support in the work of the pioneering economist Adam Smith. Recent centuries have seen a blossoming of technology. Smith describes how these advances depend on the specialization that markets create.

The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is any where directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labour…. As it is the power of exchanging that gives occasion to the division of labour, so the extent of this division must always be limited by the extent of that power, or, in other words, by the extent of the market.¹

The role of markets in advancing technology provides some support for claims about the benefits of greed because we generally trade for profit. Smith writes,

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.²

However, thriving markets require more than a desire for profit; thriving markets require trust. When we trade with the public, we face risks like theft and fraud. While we may not rely on the benevolence of the baker for our bread, charity is not the only alternative to trade. Another alternative is predation, and greed undermines trust by encouraging predation. Continue reading “The benevolence of the baker”

Dishonest money dwindles away,
but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.

Proverbs 13:11 NIV

The Bible describes a covenant between God and the people of Israel. After Moses leads Israel out of captivity, the people agree to obey God, and God promises to bless the people. It is from this covenant, or testament, that the name of the first part of the Bible, the Old Testament, derives.

Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord…said, “This is what you are to…tell the people of Israel: ‘…if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession….’”

So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” (Exodus 19:3 – 8 NIV)

In return for keeping the Mosaic Law, Israel is promised prosperity, victory in battle, and honor among the nations. In return for breaking the Mosaic Law, Israel is promised severe punishment.

The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed…because of the evil you have done in forsaking him…. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron…. Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. (Deuteronomy 28:20 – 48 NIV)

The Mosaic Law imposes hundreds of restrictions. The most famous commandments prohibit behavior that obviously harms others, like theft and murder. However, the Mosaic Law also includes instructions for diet, hygiene, economic organization, and even a requirement for rest.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…. (Exodus 20:8-10 ESV)

The Mosaic Covenant seems to impose a heavy burden in exchange for a blessing from God. However, compliance with the Mosaic Law is not just a burden. All of the Mosaic Law, not just the requirement to keep a Sabbath, is also about rest. At the core of the Mosaic Law is the reformation of our desires. Our instinctual desires are boundless, and only by reforming our desires can we escape perpetual labor in their service. Continue reading “Burden and rest”

When there is no desire,
all things are at peace.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching 37