Value of life...economists?

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If you go the economics route on the idea of value of life: Does Christianity and Catholicism, in fact, devalue life with their views on birth control and sex? If one takes the viewpoint of the idea of commodities, then obviously as they encourage a larger and larger population, the value of life decreases more and more (though, in fact, increases the value of the heads of society and religious leaders because they represent a smaller and smaller population and therefore are more and more valuable).

Thoughts?

My thought is that I don't know what to think.

Would an increase in the population cause a decrease in the value of labor holding all else equal? Yes.

At the same time, could increases in the population make for faster growth based upon a greater pool of ideas, better economies of scale, and more division of labor? Yes.

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/200 ... _myop.html

So, I don't really have a cut and dry answer.

I'd dare to say it's like taxation: the sweet spot is somewhere in between. Right now, it seems we're over-populating/over-taxing (metaphorical taxation).

Also, as far as ideas go: what about the ability to properly develop those ideas and monetarily protect it? There's many many intelligent people who contributed to society only to have their ideas stolen in one way or another and a different bloodline end up benefiting from it (like Nikolai Tesla or the old blues musicians). In the end, those who have power and monetary influence are most likely to be able to retain it and benefit from the ideas of others.

I really don't know, and I really cannot guess. After all, in most 1st world nations, growth has essentially stopped. And in most 3rd world nations, growth slows down once their economic status begins to increase.


If your basic point is that more people means that the powerful are more so, then that is probably correct. The reason being that larger populations can afford bigger power structures, and are likely to have larger power structures all else equal.

My point was that just because one generates the idea and develops it doesn't mean that they get the monetary and power reward and that those who are currently in power maintain that and get a share of it for nothing more than being in power.