A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 14 “Because Ethics Matters, and Changes, More” I’ll be honest. If the first few chapters read like this one, I never would have thought to do this chapter by chapter review! That is not because this chapter is bad, but it did challenge me….
Tag: Capitalism
Bourgeois Equality
Knowledge Is the True Key
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 12 “‘Accumulate, Accumulate’ Is Not What Happened in History” Last chapter McCloskey explored reasons the word “capitalism” should be replaced with a term that captures the source of the Great Enrichment, such as “trade-tested betterment.” Capitalism — I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It…
Bourgeois Equality
Capitalism — I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 11 “Poverty Cannot Be Overcome from the Left by Overthrowing ‘Capitalism’” I will admit, I struggled with this chapter, not because I think she is wrong but because there is a lot of nuance to the matter. Her basic argument is the word, “capitalism,”…
Bourgeois Equality
Capitalism and the Hockey Stick
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 3 “Then Many of Us Shot Up the Blade of a Hockey Stick” After establishing the last chapter that industrialization led to technological change growing output faster than population for the first time in human history, we return to the idea of the Great…
Economic Thought
It Was Never Only About Profits
A Discussion “The Social Responsibility of Business: Milton Friedman Reconsidered” As an economics professor, I know I have some misconceptions to overcome every semester a new crop of students appear in my intro microeconomics course. Economics is about greed. It is immoral. Capitalism is bad. Elrick and Thies (2018) offer…
Economic Thought
Capitalism: Value, People, and Planet
A discussion of “Revisiting the Purpose of Business” I am an economist and a lot of what drew me to the field early on is the Adam Smith story of the Invisible Hand. Briefly, it is the idea that our self-interested nature is channeled, as if by an all-knowing Invisible…
Economic Thought
Sports, Religion, Communism, and Capitalism
A Discussion of “Emotional Tagging and Belief Formation: The Long-Lasting Effects of Experiencing Communism” Have you ever shared a dramatic experience with other people but each of you have a very different reaction? Each seems to draw their own conclusion, learn different lessons, store different memories. That’s similar to what…