Bourgeois Equality Audiobook By Deirdre N. McCloskey cover art

Bourgeois Equality

How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Bourgeois Equality

By: Deirdre N. McCloskey
Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $42.98

Buy for $42.98

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

There's little doubt that most humans today are better off than their forebears. Stunningly so, the economist and historian Deirdre McCloskey argues in the concluding volume of her trilogy celebrating the oft-derided virtues of the bourgeoisie. The poorest of humanity, McCloskey shows, will soon be joining the comparative riches of Japan and Sweden and Botswana.

Why? Most economists - from Adam Smith and Karl Marx to Thomas Piketty - say the Great Enrichment since 1800 came from accumulated capital. McCloskey disagrees - fiercely. "Our riches," she argues, "were made not by piling brick on brick, bank balance on bank balance, but by piling idea on idea." Capital was necessary, but so was the presence of oxygen. It was ideas, not matter, that drove "trade-tested betterment". Nor were institutions the drivers. The World Bank orthodoxy of "add institutions and stir" doesn't work and didn't. McCloskey builds a powerful case for the initiating role of ideas - ideas for electric motors and free elections, of course, but more deeply the bizarre and liberal ideas of equal liberty and dignity for ordinary folk. Liberalism arose from theological and political revolutions in Northwest Europe, yielding a unique respect for betterment and its practitioners and upending ancient hierarchies. Commoners were encouraged to have a go, and the bourgeoisie took up the Bourgeois Deal, and we were all enriched.

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.

©2016 The University of Chicago (P)2017 Gildan Media LLC
Economic History Europe History & Theory Economic disparity Imperialism Self-Determination US Economy Economic inequality
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Bourgeois Equality

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    36
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    28
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    31
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

How the world got rich

If you want to learn about the ideological origins of the modern world’s unprecedented riches, then let McCloskey be your guide.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Deirdre brings it all together

Deirdre successfully ends her trilogy by looking at how the modern world has developed from Holland to England to America and how we have all benefited. I think this is the first economic book in a long time to truly have the ability to change the conversation on economics. It also gives me hope that we can continue to make the world a better place, even as pessimism seems to be the God of our age

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!