Faithonomics

Does faith make life better? New research says yes

- James Choi

I’M A PROFESSOR OF FINANCE AT THE Yale School of Management. I’ve also been a Christian since middle school, when I made a personal commitment to give my life to Jesus.

Some people might be surprised that there are Christians on the faculty of Yale. (Never mind that we have a divinity school!) Yale has had an anti religious reputation that goes back at least to 1951, when a book called God and Man at Yale famously criticized Yale for forcing secularism upon its students. Yale for sure is a predominantly secular institution today—far removed from its Puritan origins. But it is not, in my experience, anti-religious as a whole. Often indifferent to religion, yes, but not hostile.

My own faith matured immensely when I was a college student at Harvard, another institution sometimes described as faith-averse. I was heavily involved in an Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship group there. Inspired by my peers, I tried to live as a Christian not just on Sundays but every day.

Finance is an area that might seem especially devoid of God—even incompatible with faith. It’s true that greed and dishonesty can easily be found in the finance world. But there’s a reason why finance exists in every civilization: Civilization can’t be built without it.

Without finance, people with a good idea can turn that idea into reality only if they have enough resources to get it done. That means only rich people can undertake large-scale projects. With finance, innovators can tap the support of many other people. For example, they can borrow to cover the costs of setting up a business. Why are investors willing to give money to the innovator? Because finance enables the innovator to share with investors the future value created by the venture.