Critics of capitalism or markets are not too difficult to find. They come mainly from the ideological Left, but some also come from what appears to be a non-Leftist position of postmodernism. I actually believe most postmoderns lean Left, some violently, but for now I will let that go. Finally I have found a fairly […]
Archives
-
-
Book Review on the Industrial Revolution
07 Apr 2015
It has been a long time since I have written anything on books I am reading. I think I have a winner in a relatively new book by Joel Mokyr entitled The Enlightened Economy: Britain and the Industrial Revolution, 1700-1850, published by Penguin Books and Yale University in 2011 and 2009. Now I know the […]
-
The Social Justice Crowd Part Two
04 Dec 2014
I was happy to see some response to my earlier blog on the “Social Justice Crowd.” Here I would like to offer some clarifications and responses to the responses. Let me say first that Bert Wheeler gave an excellent rejoinder regarding one of the major benefits of enterprises such as Walmart: It substantially increases the […]
-
Capitalism and the Common Good
18 Sep 2014
In a September 5, 2014 article “Capitalism and the Common Good” published in Christianity Today, Kevin Brown used the Institute for Faith Work & Economics (IFWE) “I, Smartphone” video and the “conflict mineral” coltan to introduce his topic. Brown is a supporter of the market system. He eloquently provides a utilitarian defense of markets. “Markets have enabled progress and […]
-
Let’s Get Ethical
28 Jul 2014
This blog is a supplement to my colleague Jeff Haymond’s very informative blog of July 26 entitled “Turning to the Left….” I wanted to add a further ethical dimension to the discussion of income inequality which Jeff was addressing with regard to recent comments by Thomas Ricks at Politico. Jeff’s comments are worth reproducing in […]
-
Warning: Arcane Book Review of Work on the Nineteenth Century Economic Thought of Evangelicals
03 Jun 2014
I just finished a very interesting, but somewhat difficult, book on the economic thought of Evangelicals in Great Britain between around 1790 and 1880. Sounds really boring? Well, it was a little bit of slogging at times, but it was worth it. The author is Boyd Hilton, the title is The Age of Atonement: The […]
-
Shot In the Foot?
24 Feb 2014
Free-trade between individuals and nations is the backbone of economic growth. The more trade we have and the wider the markets for that trade, the more we will be able to develop and utilize productivity enhancing technological changes that further spur the economic engine. An article in the February 22 edition of The Economist: “How […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach