HOW CAN YOU BE A CHRISTIAN AND AN strongECONOMISTstrong.pdfVIP

_ 1 _ Poverty trends since the transition Poverty trends since the transition HOW CAN YOU BE A CHR ISTIAN AND AN ECONOMIST? T H E M E A N I N G O F T H E A C C R A D E C L AR AT I O N FO R T O D AY STAN DU PLESSIS Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers: 02/ 10 KEYWORDS: ACCRA DECLARATION, NEOLIBERALISM, ECONOMICS, PUBLIC THEOLOGY, MARKET ECONOMIES JEL: Z12 STAN DU PLESSIS DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCH PRIVATE BAG X1, 7602 MATIELAND, SOUTH AFRICA E-MAIL: STAN@SUN.AC.ZA A WORKING PAPER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND THE BUREAU FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCH HOW CAN YOU BE A CHR ISTIAN AND AN ECONOMIST? T H E M E A N I N G O F T H E A C C R A D E C L AR AT I O N FO R T O D AY STAN DU PLESSIS ABSTRACT The Accra Declaration offers a narrowly ideological interpretation of the modern economy and proceeds to reject neoliberalism as the ideological foundation thereof. This article argues for a less ideological approach to public theology in its comment on the economy in a two-step argument. Firstly, Neoliberalsim is neither a coherent ideology nor a plausible historical narrative. Economists, who are the presumed architects of neoliberalism do not recognise the propositions attributed to them by