Reference no: EM132358844

Microeconomics and How It Relates to Saint Leo's Core Value of Responsible Stewardship

Saint Leo's core value of responsible stewardship states "Our Creator blesses us with an abundance of resources. We foster a spirit of service to employ our resources for University and community development. We must be resourceful. We must optimize and apply all of the resources of our community to fulfill Saint Leo University's mission and goals." The economy drives itself with the support of supply and demand. The core value of responsible stewardship is relevant to microeconomics because when economics and stewardship are used together it is often in reference to the environment and being good stewards of the earth (Bradley, 2012). Stewardship is an ethic that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources, all of which qualities are needed in economics. The government shows good stewardship by setting price ceilings and price floors on the market. Ensuring fair market pricing by putting a price cap or minimum on items would also show responsible stewardship. Economic decisions include where to live, work, eat for dinner or what degree to pursue and many other daily decisions. Whether the decision is something major like deciding between two jobs, or small like deciding on what to have for lunch, they all represent tradeoffs. These two choices and everything in between represent stewardship (Bradley, 2012).

Public goods are a topic we have gone over in class and it has much to do with responsible stewardship. In reference to the imperfections of market solutions to public good problems, the government would be the steward. These imperfections have to be weighed against the imperfections of government solutions. Governments may produce inefficiency as a result of relying on bureaucracy, responding to poorly informed voters, or having a weak incentive to serve consumers. In addition, politicians may supply public "goods" in a manner to serve their own interest rather than those of the public (Cowen, n.d.), which is a poor example of stewardship.

Economics can be viewed as the theoretical side of stewardship and stewardship can be understood as the practical side of economics (Ballor, 2006). For an example, during winters in the Midwest many households face issues with the rise in home heating cost. Quite often, the head of household must make the decision (as a steward) to pay one of the two bills: the heating bill or purchase food. On a larger scale, economics plays an important role in decisions about environmental stewardship. Advocates for political action on global warming are attempting to propose economic arguments for their position is a positive step toward reconciling these estranged concepts (Ballor, 2006).

Every (economic) decision we make requires us to practice responsible stewardship. No matter how macro or micro, it all consists of supervising or taking care of something such as an organization or property.