16: The Capitalist Creed
This is a long chapter about capitalism. Building upon chapter 15 on the topic of the connection between science and empire, the author points in the very beginning of the chapter that money is essential to both building empires and making scientific progress. Then the first part of the chapter goes to discuss the difference between the premodern and the modern economies. The key is the trust in the future, which we refer to “credit” today. The modern economic development is building on the “credit” to bring real economic growth. (pp. 347). On pp.348, the author cites one of the most greatest economist, Adam Smith’s allegation that greed is good. “People become rich not by despoiling their neighbours, but by making the overall size of the pie” (pp.348). When you read this line, the first impression in one’s mind may be the economics bubbles that occurred so many times in modern economic history. There should be downfall of modern capitalism, the question of how to deal with it is still a big challenge to many modern governments.
The second part of the chapter discusses the role of capitalism in the rise of European imperialism by the story of Christopher Columbus in the 15th century. Here, one interesting question comes up in my mind is: why didn’t modern capitalism appear in Asia countries first? The author explains that this is because of the mindset of the emperors. However, suppose we accept this is the reason, when we ask further, what was/were the fundamental reason(s)? Likewise, similar question about why modern scientific advancement appeared in Europe, but not in Eastern world, has been asked by many scholars. It is an interesting question for scholars. The author writes “Nobody wants to pay taxes, but everyone is happy to invest” (pp. 353) This is probably true in today’s world, no matter in the East or West. But what made this realization appeared earlier in the Western governance and economic development?
Capital became the biggest driving force to colonize the Far East in the First Opium War between Britain and China (1840–1842). Hong Kong was ceded. This can be seen as an example of how economic and business (many MPs were, in fact, shareholders of the British East Indian Company) affects political and military decision. However the relationship between the government and business sectors, between the politics and economics has never been that simple. The entanglement between the two has created a wide range of phenomena in human history and great debates about a range of topics, such as the role of the government in a capitalist society.
Since the end of 20th century, sustainable development, renewable and clean energy have been mentioned frequently in many international conferences. How does the credit driven capitalism reconcile or even collaborate in the theme of sustainable development? How large is enough for the economic pie? Or human being would never satisfy what we have right now, aim at indefinite growth of the pie (or bubble)? Or could investors (capitalists) keep investing in scientific research to find innovative way to keep growing the pie, … in a sustainable way?
