Waarom economie de moderne wereld niet kan vertalen

The Argument of Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics can't Explain the Modern world

Het begint met:

We need to explain the astonishing enrichment in bourgeois countries from 1800 to the present, such as Norway’s move from $3 a day in 1800 to $137 in 2006. But the explanation cannot be economic. If it were so — trade, investment, incentives — it would have happened earlier, or in other places.

Bam. Dat is duidelijk. En ergens ook wel evident. En toch bestaat daar zo weinig literatuur over.
De oplossing komt direct daarna:

But the tide itself had “rhetorical” causes. Prudence is not the only virtue—so are courage and hope, supported by temperance, justice, love, faith, and hope. Through a “Bourgeois Revaluation” redefining such virtues, first in the Netherlands and then in Britain, people started accepting the creative destruction of innovation — and this for the first time.

Enkele extra leuke citaten:

Of course, what we really care about are the scope or capabilities of the poor. These have enormously expanded under “capitalism” — though a better word is simply “innovation,” arising from bourgeois dignity and liberty. It is the Bourgeois Deal: let me alertly seek profit, and I will make you rich.”

En het sluit af:

The Bourgeois Revaluation of the 17th and 18th centuries brought on the modern world. It was the Greatest Externality, and the substance of a real liberalism. Left and right have long detested it, expressing their detestation nowadays in environmentalism. They can stop the modern world, and in some places have. The old Soviet Union was admired even by many Western economists — which admiration is an instance of a “cultural contradiction of capitalism,” in which ideas permitted by the successes of innovation rise up to kill the innovation. We should resist it.

Zeker eens lezen. 'k ga het zeker nog eens lezen.