Introduction: Ideas matter

Many scholars across the social sciences attempt to explain the causes of the Industrial Revolution and subsequent economic growth. Such explanations rely mainly on a particular scholar's field of expertise. Rarely do we find a story explaining the economic successes of the modern world incorporating history, literature, economics, sociology, and philosophy. But Deirdre McCloskey, Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago does just that in her latest book, Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can’t Explain the Modern World. She argues that an ideological shift—specifically an increase in social status for entrepreneurs—resulted in the dramatic increase in wealth. She presents a devastating critique of competing material explanations (for example, savings, exploitation or investment). Instead, it was a change in the way people talked about entrepreneurship giving social praise to innovation, trade, and business owners that channeled entrepreneurship into wealth creating activities.

Find the article at Science Direct.