Original Sin

I've just returned from a conference on international economic development, an area which I'm not a huge expert by any stretch of the imagination - but a recent paper I've written with someone else happens to fall into this area of economics.

I was surprised that a number of people talked about original sin quite frequently - naturally this was the name some economists have given to some practice carried out in the financial sectors of economies - if a country can only borrow money denominated in foreign currency, then it is guily of original sin.

Naturally, once these countries begin to be able to borrow in their own currency, they can get around original sin. Now if the name wasn't already a bit of a misnomer, it certainly becomes it here. Sin is, as Wikipedia describes it, a Christian doctrine, and it can be defined simply as rejecting God. Sin cannot be got around by different practices, or by any human action, the Bible teaches. The only way around it is through trusting in the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross 2,000 odd years ago, something I'll be celebrating on Tuesday...