Markets and Wages (3) Poor

The Instructions for Economic Life put two other restrictions on free markets.

The Poor
Everyone with wealth has an obligation to care for the poor within their neighbourhood. Gleaning is an example of a transaction where the free market price did not apply (Deut 24:19-22). The landowner made grain available to poor person at a zero price. The gleaner had to pay with their labour, but the landowner received no return at all. The market price did not apply to these transactions.

Another example was loans to people in financial difficulty. The neighbour was required to make the loan for zero interest. The market interest rate would usually be well above zero, especially when an allowance for the risk of default was built in to the market rate. This is another situation where the free market was constrained, and a free market price was not legitimate. Charging the market rate of interest would be morally wrong.

Famine
Charging free market prices is not legitimate during a famine.

People curse the one who hoards grain,
but they pray God’s blessing on the one who is willing to sell (Prov 11:26).

Storing grain for tough times in the future is good and prices will always rise when food is scarce. This helps ration out scare supplies. But people who hold back grain and food during a famine just to force the price to excessive levels during a crisis, place themselves under a curse. People with surplus food should be careful about deciding what price they will charge. They must be careful not to just follow the market.