ECONOMICS of the INTERIOR: Introduction

by Dr. James W. Jackson

Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

Since the summer of 2010, Winston Crown Publishing House has consistently posted my weekly articles on their site. I enjoy telling the riveting stories about Project C.U.R.E. and the unique and compassionate work being accomplished around the world. Those postings tally up to over 225 weekly articles.

I have also thoroughly enjoyed sharing articles about the economic systems and the different cultures I have personally experienced in the over 150 countries in which I have worked around the world. Those writings have eventually ended up in the gold medallion-winning books that Winston Crown Publishing House has produced and distributed.

In 2013, I began focusing my attention on finishing a book on Cultural Economics. Economics and business matters have always intrigued me. We feel that even not-for-profit organizations of charity should be run with the same care and efficiency as any Fortune 500 company. That is why it pleases me so much when Forbes Magazine lists Project C.U.R.E. in the top twenty most efficiently run not-for-profit charities in America. That’s just good stewardship.

Many of my weekly articles over the past year have been full of observations and insights regarding the economic systems and cultures of which I am familiar. I hope to include those ideas in the up-coming book. I find pleasure in bouncing ideas off of my reading friends and receiving back from them their candid responses. That process always gives me a clearer idea of what should be included in the book and what should be left on the floor of the editing room.

 In the past articles we have used as an overall definition of the idea of economics as being; the discipline of study that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The root is from the ancient Greek word oikovouia, or the combination of oikos (the house) and nous (nomos, custom or rule), simply put, the rules of the house for good management.

In my studies over the years, I have pursued the subject of economics to a further interdisciplinary bias to express my interests and observations. Cultural Economics is a branch of economics that concerns itself with the relationship of culture to economic outcomes. It studies how various aspects of human cultures interact with economic events, behaviors, and conditions. A given culture will even influence the political system with its traditions, religious beliefs, the formation of institutions, and the value ascribed to individuals.

Cultural Economics certainly leans more toward the behavioral aspects of the study of economics rather than the pure analytical number crunching of the econometrics laboratory. It is aimed at how people affect economic systems and how cultures are affected by economic choices. In the study of Cultural Economics we have the thrill of taking some basic principles of economics and combining them with the unpredictable thoughts, choices, and actions of over seven billion people on earth today. That makes for an interesting adventure that can open our eyes to a better understanding of motives, methods, behaviors, successes, and failures regarding our world’s resources and human lifestyles.

The past fifty weekly articles have generously investigated the possibilities of Cultural Economics and the thesis that Global Transformation Takes Place at the Intersection of Culture and Economics. There is one more area of economics that I would like to pursue to finish out the Cultural Economics book. It deals specifically with the cultural component labeled Individual on the Cultural Economics matrix we have frequently shown in the articles.

We will call this division of economics the Economics of the Interior. What am I supposed to do with all the personal resources, liabilities, and opportunities inside my own individual and sovereign being (my own nation-state) in relationship to the arbitrary and compulsory expectations of the economic systems in which I find myself? We will investigate that subject beginning next week.

Next Week: Economics of the Interior, Part 1

(Research ideas from Dr. Jackson’s new writing project on Cultural Economics)

© Dr. James W. Jackson   

Permissions granted by Winston-Crown Publishing House

  

www.drjameswjackson.com     

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson. 

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

AT THE INTERSECTION: CULTURE AND ECONOMICS

by Dr. James W. Jackson

Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

You and I live in a world of transformation. I predict that change is here to stay . . . unless something changes. My personal observations have convinced me that global transformation, national transformation, corporate transformation, domestic transformation, and even personal transformation take place at the intersection of culture and economics. Wherever the cultural factors of traditions, institutions, families, and individuals intersect with the economic production factors of land, labor, capital, and the entrepreneur, you can count on change.

It is exciting to see how the phenomenon of transformation takes place. Once you begin to recognize the function, you can better understand, and in some cases even predict, the associated behavior that results. When I was a kid, my grandfather used to tell me, “Jimmy, if you want to know why something happens . . . follow the money.” But I have discovered that if you really want to get a glimpse of why and how things happen you must follow that money trail down to the curbside of the intersection and observe what happens when the economic factors try to cross the intersection at the same time as the cultural factors.

In these next few articles, I am going to try to assume the assignment of presenting this facet of cultural economics so that we can better understand the idea of global, national, corporate, domestic, and personal transformation.

To begin, let’s establish some simple guidelines for our thoughts:

Traditional economics concerns itself with how we efficiently allocate and manage our resources—land, labor, capital, and the entrepreneur—as well as how we organize the production of goods and services. Economists collect this data and develop charts, or matrices, to project our conclusions into the future on the basic assumption that future reality will be an extension of past reality.

The subject of culture suggests an integrated set of behavior patterns learned by members in a society, but not necessarily inherited biologically. The behavior patterns, over time, become traditions that are passed on to future generations through institutions, family units, and individuals.

Cultural Economics is the branch of economics that concerns itself with the relationship of culture to economic outcomes. It studies how various aspects of human cultures interact with economic events, behaviors, and conditions. Ultimately, the study of economics is all about people with their needs, talents, abilities, propensities, and even their emotions of love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness, and fear.

A given culture will influence the political systems, traditions, religious beliefs, the formation of institutions, and even the value we ascribe to individuals. Likewise, economic philosophies and systems have the power to affect and shape our cultures.

In the year 336 B.C., a twenty-one- year- old was placed on the Greek throne following the assassination of his father, Philip. Young Alexander of Macedonia had been schooled at the feet of the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, who had made Alexander aware of a world that was fragmented economically into countless little city-states. Each dominion had its own government, money system, army, and customs.

With Aristotle’s help, Alexander began to comprehend the high cost of fragmentation, and in the next dozen years Alexander the Great “conquered” the known world for Greece. He conquered it with such interesting subtleties that more often than not the countries in his path simply threw open their gates and welcomed him in. He brought with him security, protection, and fairness, and encouraged free trade within his new world based on a dependable metallic coinage of gold and silver. The genius of that economic enterprise and availability rested in the fact that it did not cost his constituents more out of their purses for those additional benefits, but less . . . a whole lot less!

Where the citizens had been paying as much as seventy to eighty percent in taxes to operate their fragmented city-states, Alexander reduced those tax rates to around fifteen percent. Little wonder that they threw open their city gates and welcomed him with open arms!

But, alas, with no more worlds to conquer, Alexander the Great died at the early age of thirty-three as a result of a wild drinking party. His obtuse generals decided to divide up the empire and, along with the insecure propensity of the Europeans and Asians, the populaces began to move back to a model of fragmented city-states, no longer unified by protection and a stable economy. The Greek empire began to crumble, but his dream lived on.

Two hundred seventy-one years later, Julius Caesar laid claim to the dream of Alexander the Great, overhauled it, and began to implement the “great experiment,” Pax Romana.

The global economy was not nearly as fragmented as it had been prior to Alexander, and the Greek Philosophy, literature, and ideas of democracy had done much to break down the barriers between the Greeks and the barbarians. Julius Caesar, like Alexander, began building his empire, not through brutal conquest but rather through economic and political liberation.

Five years after he had taken over Gaul, Julius Caesar entered Italy, where Rome opened her gates and welcomed him as her new champion and leader. He made the stability of the Roman currency so attractive, the mildness of Roman taxation so alluring, the openness of world trade and commerce so desirable that his empire expanded by the force of demand. He treated the conquered nations with such secure leniency that even if they could have revolted, they didn’t.

The economy began to grow, trade began to flourish, and the Roman Empire was established. Julius Caesar perceived that individual initiative and creativity that was rewarded produced more individual initiative and more creativity, thus a more stable and wealthy empire. He also perceived that exorbitant taxation squelched individual initiative and creativity.

Each of those classic examples includes major global transformation taking place expressly at the intersection of culture and economics. Let’s take a closer look at the factors gathered at the curbside of that intersection of culture and economics.

Next Week: Components of production

            (Research Ideas from Dr. Jackson’s new writing project on Cultural Economics)

 

© Dr. James W. Jackson  

Permissions granted by Winston-Crown Publishing House

www.drjameswjackson.com

 

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson. 

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com

Coffins

by Dr. James W. Jackson
Founder, Project C.U.R.E.
Author, The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist

I’m in the business of Global Transformation. I don’t necessarily like the negative connotation that goes along with the label of “non-profit” if that includes getting by with doing things in a secondary manner or living with second-class results. There is a whole world of the social sector conscience presently marching under the banner of “goodness.” These agents of change are creative, tenacious individuals with unshakable motivation, and they are desperately needed to propel the innovation necessary for our civilization to tackle our most serious ills.

It has become quite obvious that the needs are not going to be met by the paralytic hands of world governments. And, sad to say, many religious denominations and organizations have become as stymied by institutionalization and lockstep tradition as the most inadequate government. But the people who are becoming involved in this push for global transformation are setting aside visions of personal financial accumulation and the narcissistic lifestyles in order to experience the excitement of genuine worth-building adventures.

If there is a perfect antithesis to the terrorist’s impulse it is this swelling surge of the new global transformers bent on making this needy world better off through the power of goodness. They demonstrate the power of building things up and making things better off instead of blowing them apart! And they are addressing many of the underlying causes of today’s global instability like: sickness, causes of poverty, and lack of education.

I take courage and personal confidence in the fact that throughout history when the powers of evil and ignorance seem to be gaining an upper hand there are those dedicated and compassionate people who step forward and receive their marching orders to become agents of global transformation and never blink an eye at the cost that will be exacted from them.

While traveling through the war-torn countries of Congo and Angola I was reminded of the price that had been paid by global transformers of past generations. Our Cessna 208 circled over the huts along the Songolo River. As we landed on the grassy runway of Kajiji, the villagers ran out to greet us. The entire school of nurses showed up in their pink and white uniforms and starched white caps. As we unloaded the medical supplies from Project C.U.R.E., the native chorus began singing.

I was led to the hospital compound and a stately old stone house with a picturesque veranda that overlooked the river and south toward the hazy distant valley. While being served a lunch of bananas, rice, goat meat and bread made from manioc plant, my hosts related to me how in the early 1900s the people of the whole central African area were dying by the thousands. Then some people from England and America started coming, promising to help them get better. They were global transformers with incredible love and compassion. They were called Presbyterians and they accepted applications from people to go to the Kajiji area to see if they could discover the reason for the pandemic. The average stay of the young Brits and Americans was 11 months! They came to Africa, trying to discover as much as they could. They journalized carefully what they had discovered, sent the information back home, then succumbed to the illnesses themselves. Another wave of brave global transformers would come to take their places. Part of the agreement in order to go to Kajiji was to pack all their belongings in a wooden coffin when they traveled to Africa so that there would be a convenient way to ship their bodies back home for burial.

I probably won’t be required to pay such a price for my involvement as a cultural transformer, but I am proud to be included in the growing, compassionate army of wonderful and brave people who stand undaunted by risk or resistance when it comes to helping needy people all over this world become better off. 

Dr. James W. Jackson often describes himself as "The Happiest Man in the World." A successful businessman, award-winning author and humanitarian, Jackson is also a renowned Cultural Economist and international consultant, helping organizations and governments to apply sound economic principals to the transformation of culture so that everyone is "better off."

As the founder of Project C.U.R.E., Dr. Jackson traveled to more than one hundred fifty countries assessing healthcare facilities, meeting with government leaders and "delivering health and hope" in the form of medical supplies and equipment to the world's most needy people. Literally thousands of people are alive today as a direct result of the tireless efforts of Project C.U.R.E.'s staff, volunteers and Dr. Jackson.

To contact Dr. Jackson, or to book him for an interview or speaking engagement: press@winstoncrown.com