EclectEcon

This is a story from the CBC, not from Onion!

The United Church of Canada may ask its members to stop buying bottled water.

The request is part of a resolution against the privatization of water supplies that has been put before delegates at the church's general council this week in Thunder Bay.

Richard Chambers, the social policy co-ordinator with the national office of the church, said that water is a human right, and no one should profit from it.

"We're against the commodification, the privatization is another way to say it, of water anyway, anywhere," he told CBC News.

"And bottled water that we see being sold in Canada is just an example of that. The thin edge of the wedge of the privatization of water." ...

Ironically, the church's delegates are drinking bottled water this week at its meeting at Lakehead University. The conference facility was not equipped to provide drinking water.

Chambers said the church had asked for tap water at all functions, but a mix-up occurred.

Delegates are scheduled to vote on the private water resolution on Thursday.

I note that this is the United Church of Canada, which is quite distinct from the Congregational-type United Church in the U.S. (in which I studied when I attended theological seminary), but they are not terribly different. I have a close friend who was once very active in the United Church of Canada, but left it some years ago; he refers to them as "a bunch of lunatics." When I was in seminary, we all knew how everyone should lead their lives, and we were quite ready to tell them.

The Economics: A major clash between theologues and economists comes from the failure to distinguish between normatives (shoulds, value judgements) and positives (what is). Theologues often talk in terms of what people should do; economists talk in terms of trying to explain what people actually do. The problem with the normative approach is that it often leads to the pollyanna fallacy: "People should behave as I say; let's pass laws that will make them behave that way." This attitude leads to very costly public policies because people don't change; it also seriously abrogates individual freedoms and can lead to theocracies.

So how would these folks at The United Church of Canada suggest that scarce resources like water be allocated? I'm guessing over 80% of them would say something like, "From each, according to his ability, to each, according to his need." I.e., they're closet Marxists. The purportedly great theologian, Paul Tillich once said that you can't be a good Christian without being a socialist.

The trouble with their view is that when there is scarcity, the resources have to be allocated according to some mechanism. Economists have done a pretty good job of showing that the market system, with well-defined property rights, allocates scarce resources pretty well. If, as a substitute for the market, religious leaders were the ones to decide who gets the goodies, then they will have immense power and make most of us worse off.

I wonder who they think should pay for the purification and distribution of water. I'm guessing they just love rationing plans. If so, they should read more about the problems with queuing for bread, shoes, etc., in the former Soviet Union.

Update: Alex Tabarrok reminded me of this piece about the benefits of privatizing water.

Also, for more, see Phil Miller's take on the story.