მართლმადიდებლობა და ეკონომიკა (Orthodoxy and economy)

Abstract

Concept of the “New Athens and New Jerusalem” proposed by the Georgian King St. David IV the Builder is topical until now. Construction of a building starts from its foundation. Therefore industrial relationships in Georgia must be based upon the strong foundation in a form of the “comprehended religion” – Orthodox Christianity. For generations who grew in Soviet Georgia without any religious education, orthodox studies were counted to be the field only for philologists and historians. Younger generations inherited this approach from them. That is why, even today orthodox studies and theory of economics are considered to be quite demarcated fields. The work discusses the arguments of necessity for the intervention of the state in the education system and the educational functions of the state. One of the arguments of the state in the education system is “the necessity to establish “the general value in the society”. Therefore, we believe that the norms introduced as a result of reforms to the educational system of the country must not be contrary to the established rules and customs for centuries in Georgia that were determined by the influence of Christian religion. That means the generation of harmonic dependence between knowledge and faith in individual. This view is supported by the work of thinkers: Goethe, Planck, Einstein and others' statements. There are also the opinions of Saint Ilia the Righteous (Ilia Chavchavadze), Saint Gabriel Bishop (Kikodze) and Catholic-Patriarch of all Georgia Ilia II. Based on the Old and New Testaments, the issue of transformation of the snake from the symbol of evil to the symbol of wisdom is explained. According to the well-known experts, any political, social and economical model in an individual country undergoes change in accordance with religious-national features and traditions. Historically Georgia underwent permanent attacks from the countries with different culture (qualitatively and from the viewpoint of the level of development). The above difficulties forced the country to quickly and adequately react on the novelties foisted on the country and to adapt to them. In the main, such adaptation was superfluous and was characterized with resistance against features unacceptable to the traditional culture: the Georgian culture and traditions in a course of centuries were determined by teaching of the Orthodoxy. Shown: the main principles of labour relationship and compensation according to the Bible, the possibilities of its imploring and its implementing in economics of Georgia. The presented work also deals with the comparison of wisdom given in the gospel and the views of Prof. Gregory Mankiw, Harvard University, about decision making process by individuals given in his book “Principles of Economics”. In the presented work there are some extracts from the gospel and Holy Write which are analogous to the considerations discussed in the textbook “Principles of Economics” and which suggest the ways to solve the definite problems. This is one more proof that wisdom given in orthodox studies is eternal. In his famous research Competitive Advantages of Nations M. Porter, a,well-known professor from Harvard University, wrote: “Competitiveness of a country is a result of combination of its organizational model and management practices, which are the most acceptable for certain countries and competitiveness sources of certain industries. Differences in national values, culture, economic structure, functioning organizations and historic development make contribution to obtaining competitive advantages”. In the yearbook for 2011 produced by the world competitiveness research center of Lozano, over 300 criteria for world competitiveness are divided into 4 major groups: 1. Economic Performance; 2. Government Efficiency; 3. Business Efficiency; 4. Infrastructure. “Approaches and Values” is one of the five sub factors determining business effectiveness, which in its turn is assessed with seven indicators, namely: attitudes toward globalization; the country’s image abroad; national culture; flexibility and adaptability; need for economic and social reforms; value system; corporate values. The article provides citations from the Gospel and Epistles, the information from the website of the Ministry of Economics and opinions of famous Georgian researchers, which prove that Orthodox religion is one of the important factors for raising competitiveness of Georgia’s economy.