Part 2 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 1 “Cardboard Cut-out Capitalism” Peter Foster notes in his book that capitalism is a word everyone uses, often with negative connotations, but seldom define. (p. 24) Defining capitalism is one of the key sticking points for authors…
Tag: Self-interest
Why We Bite the Invisible Hand
Why is Our Culture Hostile to Capitalism?
Part 1 of a Discussion of Peter Foster’s Why We Bite the Invisible Hand Chapter 1 “Cardboard Cut-out Capitalism” The title of journalist Peter Foster’s book definitely captured my attention: Why We Bite the Invisible Hand. The invisible hand is a metaphor from Adam Smith that we use in economics to describe how the economy…
Bourgeois Equality
Most of All, Profit Seeking is Even Good for the Poor
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 61 “And Therefore Bourgeois Rhetoric Was Better for the Poor” As Dr. McCloskey is wrapping up Part IX of her book addressing how both history and economics have been misunderstood, she is arguing against the notion that the worker are living under a “false…
Bourgeois Equality
And Profit Seeking Frees Workers, too.
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 60 “And Liberating in Production” Dr. McCloskey spears “one of the left’s economic dogmas” in this chapter — wage slavery. (p. 569) By dogma she means any “passionate belief held uncritically”. (p. 569) She notes wage slave is defined as “a person who is wholly dependent…
Bourgeois Equality
Profit Seeking is Egalitarian
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 59 “Trade-Tested Betterment is Democratic in Consumption” Sadly (to me as an economist) profit is often taken to be a dirty word, when in fact in a competitive market it is the driver to use our resources most efficiently, creating the most using the…
Bourgeois Equality
Knowing the Source of the Great Enrichment Is Crucial
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 56 “The Change in Ideas Contradicts Many Ideas from the Political Middle, 1890–1980” Not only is this chapter starting Part 9 out of 10 of Dr. McCloskey’s book, but these last 2 parts are addressing the fourth, and last, big question: What are the…
Bourgeois Equality
And the New Bourgeois Respect Created Vested Interests Supportive of the Great Enrichment
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 48 “And Betterment, Though Long Disdained, Developed Its Own Vested Interests” Change is hard to do in a system in part because it hurts one or more groups who are part of the existing status quo. So how can something as big as a…
Bourgeois Equality
We Need to Bring Back Virtue Not Give Up on Economics
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 67 “A Change in Rhetoric Made Modernity, and Can Spread It” This is an historic blog — 67 chapters over nearly 18 months, and now we are at the final chapter of Dr. McCloskey’s Bourgeois Equality! I was drawn to do a chapter by chapter review of…
Bourgeois Equality
Attitudes towards Bourgeois Betterment Historically Hostile
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 45 “Talk had been Hostile to Betterment” Dr. McCloskey opens this chapter with a story of a Mayan man from Guatemala, Oscar Chiquito, who had recently graduated from university despite long odds. And the long odds were due largely to his father’s hostility to…
Bourgeois Equality
Ideas Matter: Respect for the Bourgeois Led to the Great Enrichment
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 44 “The Rhetorical Change was Necessary, and May be Sufficient Dr. McCloskey is wrapping up Part VI of her book with this chapter focusing on the importance of the shift in rhetoric and playing with the concepts of necessary and sufficient. If the shift in…