Bourgeois Dignity
Why Economics Can't Explain the Modern World
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Narrated by:
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Marguerite Gavin
About this listen
The big economic story of our times is not the Great Recession. It is how China and India began to embrace neoliberal ideas of economics and attributed a sense of dignity and liberty to the bourgeoisie they had denied for so long. The result was an explosion in economic growth and proof that economic change depends less on foreign trade, investment, or material causes and a whole lot more on ideas and what people believe.
Or so says Deirdre N. McCloskey in Bourgeois Dignity, a fiercely contrarian history that wages a similar argument about economics in the West. Here she turns her attention to 17th- and 18th-century Europe to reconsider the birth of the Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism. According to McCloskey, our modern world was not the product of new markets and innovations but rather the result of shifting opinions about them. During this time, talk of private property, commerce, and even the bourgeoisie itself radically altered, becoming far more approving and flying in the face of prejudices several millennia old. The wealth of nations, then, didn't grow so dramatically because of economic factors: It grew because rhetoric about markets and free enterprise finally became enthusiastic and encouraging of their inherent dignity.
An utterly fascinating sequel to her critically acclaimed book The Bourgeois Virtues, Bourgeois Dignity is a feast of intellectual riches from one of our most spirited and ambitious historians - a work that will forever change our understanding of how the power of persuasion shapes our economic lives.
©2010 The University of Chicago (P)2017 Gildan Media LLCRelated to this topic
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- By: Deirdre N. McCloskey
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Few economists or historians write like McCloskey - her ability to invest the facts of economic history with the urgency of a novel, or of a leading case at law, is unmatched. She summarizes modern economics and modern economic history with verve and lucidity yet sees through to the really big scientific conclusion. Not matter, but ideas. Big books don't come any more ambitious or captivating than Bourgeois Equality.
-
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-
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- By: Deirdre Nansen McCloskey
- Narrated by: Janet Metzger
- Length: 15 hrs
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Overall
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Performance
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The greatest challenges facing humankind, according to Deirdre Nansen McCloskey, are poverty and tyranny, both of which hold people back. Arguing for a return to true liberal values, this engaging and accessible book develops, defends, and demonstrates how embracing the ideas first espoused by 18th-century philosophers like Locke, Smith, Voltaire, and Wollstonecraft is good for everyone. In McCloskey's view, liberalism leads to equality, but equality does not necessarily lead to liberalism - and the fixation of the left on inequality is counterproductive.
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Performance
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A Culture of Growth
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- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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By: Joel Mokyr
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Detours
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- Narrated by: J.D. Jackson
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-
Overall
-
Performance
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God has a plan for your life. More often than not, it's a detour - one that can leave you feeling temporarily stalled and slowed down. Which nobody likes. But detours are necessary if any improvements are going to be made on the paths we travel. Or if any wreck is going to be cleaned up or a hazard avoided. Detours are designed for our own good, regardless of how we view or feel about them. Detours are a good thing that often feels bad. Tony knows a thing or two about detours.
-
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Loved it so much more than I thought.
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By: Dr. Tony Evans
What listeners say about Bourgeois Dignity
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- David Ahlstrom
- 07-10-18
Everyone should understand economic growth
Professor Deirdre McCloskey tells the story (and evidence) of economic growth better than anyone. She also explains why Diamond, Kennedy, and numerous economists are wrong about economic growth.
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- Perry Patetic
- 08-28-24
Repetitive analysis of contribution of bourgeois habits to economic prosperity
Although much of the empirical analysis of why traditional explanations of economic development are insufficient was interesting, same points were made over and over. In addition the narrator was poorly prepared for words in other languages and constantly mispronounced them. A tough slog overall
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