tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post2562396505236776582..comments2023-10-31T03:18:26.963-07:00Comments on Great Guys Weblog: Free market capitalism: evil or amazing?Brethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15063508651955739056noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-2911959237897621892007-09-14T09:21:00.000-07:002007-09-14T09:21:00.000-07:00oroborous,you might enjoy The Victory of Reason by...oroborous,<BR/><BR/>you might enjoy <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Victory-Reason-Christianity-Freedom-Capitalism/dp/1400062284" REL="nofollow">The Victory of Reason</A> by Rodney Stark<BR/><BR/>The NYTimes calls it a polemic (what else would you expect) but having read it, I think it's worth the time.Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14980738175201874292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-66512509804517562007-09-14T08:49:00.000-07:002007-09-14T08:49:00.000-07:00oroborous wrote: "[dds] cannot be used to substant...oroborous wrote: "<I>[dds] cannot be used to substantiate a claim that the capitalist system stayed a Malthusian end.</I>"<BR/><BR/>Probably true. Because of the large number of variables and the impossibility of creating control groups, very little in economics can be proven.<BR/><BR/>However, what data there is points pretty strongly to free-markets raising prosperity. Here's a <A HREF="http://cato.org/pubs/journal/cj17n2-1.html" REL="nofollow">CATO study</A> correlating economic and political freedom with prosperity, where economic freedom is pretty much a measure of how unfettered voluntary exchange is:<BR/><BR/>"<I>The results are quite remarkable. Table 5 shows that every one of our five survey measures of economic freedom has significant power to explain variation in per capita national income. The estimated equations explain from 54 to 74 percent of the cross-country variation in income; each coefficient on the survey measures of economic freedom carries the correct sign and is highly significant.</I>"<BR/><BR/>So proof, no. Strong indication, yes.Brethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15063508651955739056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-50865973871953503942007-09-14T06:52:00.000-07:002007-09-14T06:52:00.000-07:00Voluntary exchange is actually the genesis of our ...Voluntary exchange is actually the genesis of our economic betterment. It involves the social advance of peaceful interaction and the discovery process of value creation inherent in uncoerced exchange. Specialization and differentiation allowed for higher productivity, capitalism was a booster rocket to the process.Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14980738175201874292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-31297026720937025402007-09-14T05:40:00.000-07:002007-09-14T05:40:00.000-07:00OK, good point, but the fact remains that "dds" wa...OK, good point, but the fact remains that "dds" wasn't solely the province of capitalism, and so therefore it cannot be used to substantiate a claim that the capitalist system stayed a Malthusian end.Oroboroushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01710250012500728430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-60006374536073057062007-09-13T20:05:00.000-07:002007-09-13T20:05:00.000-07:00oroborous,"There are more scientists alive today t...oroborous,<BR/><BR/>"<A HREF="http://fellowships.aaas.org/PDFs/Visions_Book/03_Part_2.pdf" REL="nofollow">There are more scientists alive today than have lived throughout all of the preceding millennia.</A>"<BR/><BR/>And there certainly are a lot of different types of scientists. How do you suppose we might've come to this state if it weren't for "diversification, differentiation and specialization" of not only the scientists but of the rest of the populous in order to be efficient enough to support that much energy being devoted to science?Brethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15063508651955739056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-77965208073289364722007-09-13T17:53:00.000-07:002007-09-13T17:53:00.000-07:00It wasn't directly "diversification, differentiati...It wasn't directly "diversification, differentiation and specialisation" that delayed Malthus's predictions, nor do they allow "population increases [to be] self-accelerating".<BR/><BR/>Those results came about due to the scientific method, and the industrial revolution, neither of which are solely the province of capitalism, as history clearly shows.Oroboroushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01710250012500728430noreply@blogger.com