Why It's OK to Want to Be Rich
Why It's OK
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Narrated by:
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Christopher Ragland
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By:
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Jason Brennan
About this listen
Finger-wagging moralizers say the love of money is the root of all evil. They assume that making a lot of money requires exploiting others, and that the best way to wash off the resulting stain is to give a lot of it away.
In Why It’s OK to Want to Be Rich, Jason Brennan shows that the moralizers have it backwards. He argues that, in general, the more money you make, the more you already do for others, and that even an average wage earner is productively "giving back" to society just by doing her job. In addition, wealth liberates us to have the best chance of leading a life that’s authentically our own. Brennan also demonstrates how money-based societies create nicer, more trustworthy, and more cooperative citizens. And in another chapter that takes on the new historians of capitalism, Brennan argues that wealthy nations became wealthy because of their healthy institutions, not from their horrific histories of slavery or colonialism. While writing that the more money one has, the more one should help others, Brennan also notes that we weren’t born into a perpetual debt to society. It’s OK to get rich and it’s OK to enjoy being rich, too.
Key Features:
- Shows how the desire to become wealthy in an open and fair market helps maximize cooperation and lessens the chance of violence and war
- Argues that it is much easier for the average for-profit business to add value to the world than it is for the average non-profit
- Demonstrates that the kinds of virtues (e.g., conscientiousness, thoughtfulness, hard work) that lead to desirable personal and civic states (e.g., happy marriages, stable families, engaged citizens) also make people richer
- Argues that living in small clans for most of their history has given humans a negative attitude towards anyone acquiring more than her "fair share," an attitude that’s ill-suited for our market-driven, globally connected world.
- In a final, provocative chapter, maintains that ideal economic growth is infinite.
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Critic reviews
"Is it OK to want money? With his trademark blend of philosophical analysis, social scientific data-mining, and norm-busting verbal pyrotechnics, Jason Brennan argues that it’s more than just OK. Wanting to become rich is how we make our world a better place and, along the way, author lives that are genuinely our own."–John Tomasi, Brown University
"Do you own a BMW? Are you already in business school? If so, then maybe put this book down and instead consider getting into something a bit less comfortable by Marx, Fanon, Foucault, or Elizabeth Anderson. But for the rest of us, Why It’s OK to Want to Be Rich is an exhilarating, illuminating, mildly terrifying ride. Provocative and challenging at every beautifully-handled turn, drawing on a wealth of economics and psychology, this direct little book sets out the moral case for money—making it, spending it, even luxuriating in it, and not feeling bad about it. Many of us raised in the wealthiest, most capitalist, happiest societies in human history have been taught to react to such ideas with a complex mixture of rage and guilt. You might already want to throw this book across the room. Fine, fine. But read it first. You might learn something—about money, about markets, about economics, even about yourself. If nothing else, I know of no better, faster introduction to the moral case for capitalism. It is the kind of book that enriches all of us, even if—and perhaps especially if—we are inclined to disagree with it."–Alex Guerrero, Rutgers University, USA
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Story
Economics drives the modern world and shapes our lives, but few of us feel we have time to engage with the breadth of ideas in the subject. 50 Economics Classics is the smart person's guide to two centuries of discussion of finance, capitalism, and the global economy. From Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations to Thomas Piketty's best-seller Capital in the Twenty-First Century, here are the great books and seminal ideas, clarified and illuminated for all.
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Bourgeois Equality
- How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World
- By: Deirdre N. McCloskey
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 29 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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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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How the world got rich
- By Andrew Cooper-Sansone on 01-26-23
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Libertarianism
- What Everyone Needs to Know
- By: Jason Brennan
- Narrated by: Nicholas Ramsey
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Historically, Americans have seen libertarians as far outside the mainstream, but with the rise of the Tea Party movement, libertarian principles have risen to the forefront of Republican politics. But libertarianism is more than the philosophy of individual freedom and unfettered markets that Republicans have embraced. Indeed, as Jason Brennan points out, libertarianism is a quite different - and far richer - system of thought than most of us suspect. In this timely new entry in Oxford's acclaimed series What Everyone Needs to Know, Brennan offers a nuanced portrait of libertarianism.
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very informative
- By S. Schmidt on 09-21-19
By: Jason Brennan
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Radical Markets
- Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society
- By: Eric A. Posner, E. Glen Weyl
- Narrated by: James Conlan
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Many blame today's economic inequality, stagnation, and political instability on the free market. The solution is to rein in the market, right? Radical Markets turns this thinking - and pretty much all conventional thinking about markets, both for and against - on its head. The book reveals bold new ways to organize markets for the good of everyone.
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Terrible Reader ruins this book
- By Brian W. Veit on 10-30-18
By: Eric A. Posner, and others
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The Great Escape
- Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality
- By: Angus Deaton
- Narrated by: Matthew Brenher
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The world is a better place than it used to be. People are healthier, wealthier, and live longer. Yet the escapes from destitution by so many has left gaping inequalities between people and nations. In The Great Escape, Angus Deaton - one of the foremost experts on economic development and on poverty - tells the remarkable story of how, beginning 250 years ago, some parts of the world experienced sustained progress, opening up gaps and setting the stage for today's disproportionately unequal world.
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not worth listening
- By Kyung on 04-26-20
By: Angus Deaton
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Arguing with Socialists
- By: Glenn Beck
- Narrated by: Glenn Beck, Jeremy Lowell
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In Arguing with Socialists, New York Times best-selling author Glenn Beck arms listeners to the teeth with information necessary to debunk the socialist arguments that have once again become popular, and proves that the free market is the only way to go. With his trademark humor, Beck lampoons the resurgence of this bankrupt leftist philosophy with thousands of stories, facts, and arguments for anyone who is willing to ask the hard questions.
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Its great...whatever
- By Jon on 04-08-20
By: Glenn Beck
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Cooperation and Coercion
- How Busybodies Became Busybullies and What That Means for Economics and Politics
- By: Antony Davies, James R. Harrigan
- Narrated by: Pat Grimes
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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There are only two ways that humans work together: They cooperate with one another or they coerce one another. And once you realize this fundamental fact, it will change how you see the world. In this myth-busting book, Antony Davies and James R. Harrigan display their wisdom and talent for explaining complex topics; these skills have attracted a devoted audience to their weekly podcast, Words & Numbers, and made them popular speakers around the country.
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Clear, Concise, and Informative
- By Jacob on 03-27-21
By: Antony Davies, and others
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Why Not Socialism?
- By: G. A. Cohen
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 1 hr and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Is socialism desirable? Is it even possible? In this concise book, one of the world's leading political philosophers presents with clarity and wit a compelling moral case for socialism and argues that the obstacles in its way are exaggerated. There are times, G. A. Cohen notes, when we all behave like socialists.
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Not compelling, but OK
- By Angel D. on 01-17-12
By: G. A. Cohen
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The Myth of the Rational Voter
- Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies
- By: Bryan Caplan
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The greatest obstacle to sound economic policy is not entrenched special interests or rampant lobbying, but the popular misconceptions, irrational beliefs, and personal biases held by ordinary voters. This is economist Bryan Caplan's sobering assessment in this provocative and eye-opening book.
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Refreshing
- By Lyle Wincentsen on 05-12-11
By: Bryan Caplan
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The Complacent Class
- The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream
- By: Tyler Cowen
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Since Alexis de Tocqueville, restlessness has been accepted as a signature American trait. Our willingness to move, take risks, and adapt to change have produced a dynamic economy and a tradition of innovation from Ben Franklin to Steve Jobs. The problem, according to legendary blogger, economist, and best-selling author Tyler Cowen, is that Americans today have broken from this tradition - we're working harder than ever to avoid change.
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MUST READ
- By RJW on 05-06-17
By: Tyler Cowen
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Defending the Undefendable
- By: Walter Block
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Professor Block's book is among the most famous of the great defenses of victimless crimes and controversial economic practices, from profiteering and gouging to bribery and blackmail. However, beneath the surface, this book is also an outstanding work of microeconomic theory that explains the workings of economic forces in everyday events and affairs.
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Stretching My Mind
- By Johnny Noob on 12-14-11
By: Walter Block
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Narrative Economics
- How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events
- By: Robert J. Shiller
- Narrated by: Susan Osman, Robert J. Shiller - introduction
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Spread through the public in the form of popular stories, ideas can go viral and move markets - whether it's the belief that tech stocks can only go up or that housing prices never fall. Whether true or false, stories like these - transmitted by word of mouth, by the news media, and increasingly by social media - drive the economy by driving our decisions about how and where to invest, how much to spend and save, and more. But despite the obvious importance of such stories, most economists have paid little attention to them. Narrative Economics sets out to change that.
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Such boring narration (returned)
- By William J Brown on 10-08-19
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The Sovereign Individual
- Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
- By: James Dale Davidson, Peter Thiel - preface, William Rees-Mogg
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Two renowned investment advisors and authors of the best seller The Great Reckoning bring to light both currents of disaster and the potential for prosperity and renewal in the face of radical changes in human history as we move into the next century. The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western civilization.
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Unfortunately distopian for mosty of humanity
- By Phil on 09-29-20
By: James Dale Davidson, and others