A Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 18 “Conclusion: Still Spinning After All These Years” I have really enjoyed this book because Foster is asking the questions I have had. Why do we bite the Invisible Hand? Why are people not more aware or concerned that…
Tag: Malthusian
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Using a Green Wrapper and Moralistic Hyperbole to Cover Anti-Capitalism
A Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 16 “The Greenest Businessman in America” Foster examines the expression of anti-capitalism through the promotion of environmentalism in this chapter. He focuses on one businessman in particular, but uses him as an example to suggest that the movement…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Beyond Good Intentions: We Need to Be Saved from the Saviors of Global Salvationism
Part 1 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 15 “Global Salvationism” In an earlier chapter, Foster refers to the work of economist David Henderson who developed the idea of DIYE, do-it-yourself-economics, which is a compilation of subconscious, erroneous ideas that many people hold…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Zero Sum Bias: How Malthusian Thinking Hinders Economic Progress
Part 3 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 8 “Do-It-Yourself Economics” Last blog, I covered how Foster delved into many of the cognitive biases that interfere with our ability to understand modern economics. Now, I want to focus on one cognitive bias I…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
The Need to Unlearn What We “Know” about Economics
Part 2 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 8 “Do-It-Yourself Economics” Foster continues in this chapter exploring some of the apparently inborn assumptions we apply to the economy that lead to incorrect conclusions. Much like the do-it-yourself-economics (DIYE) brought up in the previous…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Are We Anti-Capitalist by Design or by Evolution?
A Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 7 “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea” As Foster continues to explore reasons people tend to dislike capitalism despite the wealth it has generated the past couple of hundred years, he turns to the ideas of Charles Darwin and natural selection….
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Penning Hypocrisy: Writers Making Money Criticizing Capitalism
Part 1 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 6 “Tuesdays with Mandeville” Foster is tracing anti-capitalist thought across many writers of the West, and in this chapter he hits one I had not heard of: Bernard Mandeville who was born in 1670 in…
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
When Privilege met Narcissism, Marxism was Born
Part 2 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 4 “Dark Satanic Minds” Last blog, we learned about one of the Utopians, Robert Owen, that rose up to challenge capitalism because of all the social upheaval wrought by industrialization. A more famous challenge, and one that persists…
Bourgeois Equality
Both the Right and the Left Oppose the Bourgeois
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 65 “Despite the Clerisy’s Doubts” Dr. McCloskey continues her discussion of the threats to a continuation of the bourgeois trade tested system of betterment that has given us a 3000% to 10,000% growth in incomes over the past two hundred years. In this chapter…
Bourgeois Equality
Note to the Left: You are Wrong about Economic Growth
A Discussion of Chapter 7 “Despite Doubts from the Left” Economic growth is the result of the Bourgeois Deal that allowed us to escape subsistence living, and yet the Left eyes growth with suspicion, concerns, criticism, and policies that would slow or stop it. In this chapter, McCloskey turns her…