Bourgeois dignity: why economics can't explain the modern world

588 Pages·2011·1.777 MB·English

by  McCloskey, Deirdre N

bourgeois dignity

DEIRDRE N. MCCLOSKEY
Bourgeois Dignity
why economics can’t
explain the modern world
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS (cid:2) CHICAGO AND LONDON
Deirdre N. McCloskey is Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and
Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2010 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2010
Printed in the United States of America
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13: 978-0-226-55665-9 (cloth)
isbn-10: 0-226-55665-4 (cloth)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McCloskey, Deirdre N.
Bourgeois dignity : why economics can’t explain the modern world /
Deirdre N. McCloskey.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-226-55665-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-55665-4 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Economic history. 2. Economics—
Philosophy. 3. Europe—Economic conditions. 4. Middle class. I. Title.
hc51.m395 2010
330—dc22 2010018367
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992.
Alexander Gerschenkron
1904–1978
Model and mentor
Pars enim scientia est, scire quid nesco

contents
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
1 The Modern World Was an Economic Tide, But Did Not
Have Economic Causes 1
2 Liberal Ideas Caused the Innovation 10
3 And a New Rhetoric Protected the Ideas 20
4 Many Other Plausible Stories Don’t Work Very Well 31
5 The Correct Story Praises “Capitalism” 40
6 Modern Growth Was a Factor of at Least Sixteen 48
7 Increasing Scope, Not Pot-of-Pleasure “Happiness,” Is What
Mattered 60
8 And the Poor Won 70
9 Creative Destruction Can Be Justifi ed Therefore on
Utilitarian Grounds 78
10 British Economists Did Not Recognize the Tide 86
11 But the Figures Tell 93
12 Britain’s (and Europe’s) Lead Was an Episode 101
13 And Followers Could Leap over Stages 113
viii contents
14 The Tide Didn’t Happen because of Thrift 125
15 Capital Fundamentalism Is Wrong 133
16 A Rise of Greed or of a Protestant Ethic Didn’t
Happen 140
17 “Endless” Accumulation Does Not Typify the Modern
World 146
18 Nor Was the Cause Original Accumulation or a Sin of
Expropriation 153
19 Nor Was It Accumulation of Human Capital, Until
Lately 161
20 Transport or Other Domestic Reshuffl ings Didn’t
Cause It 168
21 Nor Geography, nor Natural Resources 178
22 Not Even Coal 186
23 Foreign Trade Was Not the Cause, Though World Prices
Were a Context 197
24 And the Logic of Trade-as-an-Engine Is Dubious 207
25 And Even the Dynamic Effects of Trade Were Small 217
26 The Effects on Europe of the Slave Trade and British
Imperialism Were Smaller Still 229
27 And Other Exploitations, External or Internal, Were Equally
Profi tless to Ordinary Europeans 239
28 It Was Not the Sheer Quickening of Commerce 249
29 Nor the Struggle over the Spoils 256
30 Eugenic Materialism Doesn’t Work 266
31 Neo-Darwinism Doesn’t Compute 277
32 And Inheritance Fades 286
contents ix
33 Institutions Cannot Be Viewed Merely as Incentive-
Providing Constraints 296
34 And So the Better Institutions, Such as Those Alleged for
1689, Don’t Explain 310
35 And Anyway the Entire Absence of Property Is Not Relevant
to the Place or Period 325
36 And the Chronology of Property and Incentives Has Been
Mismeasured 336
37 And So the Routine of Max U Doesn’t Work 346
38 The Cause Was Not Science 355
39 But Bourgeois Dignity and Liberty Entwined with the
Enlightenment 366
40 It Was Not Allocation 377
41 It Was Words 385
42 Dignity and Liberty for Ordinary People, in Short, Were the
Greatest Externalities 393
43 And the Model Can Be Formalized 406
44 Opposing the Bourgeoisie Hurts the Poor 420
45 And the Bourgeois Era Warrants Therefore Not Political or
Environmental Pessimism 430
46 But an Amiable, if Guarded, Optimism 439
Notes 451
Works Cited 493