“why did capitalism emerge in Holland and Great Britain, rather than in China, or perhaps in Portuguese-speaking Brazil”
It was easier to work hard in a temperate climate before air conditioning.
There is also the cost of ships, which were expensive. Holland and Great Britain were sea-faring countries.
There is also the historical patent systems of the United States and of Great Britain.
The patent systems of Germany and Japan allocate employee inventors a share of the patent profits (mainly in theory since manufacturing under patents tends to be in-house).
property rights + rationality (science) + capital accumulation + technological advances
Young educated people in the US tend to assign slavery an economic importance equal to its political importance.
I don’t spend much on cotton.
I doubt my ancestors before 1861 spent a lot of money on cotton.
In my opinion, “Capitalism” is now an inherently tainted word. It’s a little like getting a politician to deny on TV that he is a child molester. He’s sunk right there. If anyone defends “capitalism”, many people will just think he’s a monster.
I support market economies. Supply and Demand. People produce, people consume. It’s as neutral — and as unavoidable — as can be.
The trick is to make the market economy as efficient (and just) as possible. And that’s not difficult: you just need to stay away from communism.
In Great Britain and especially in Scotland, people were tossed off agricultural land in favor of sheep.
A trip to a Scottish museum can reveal how inventive the Scots were.
Some of those evicted wound up overseas. Others searched for jobs, such as those offered by factory owners.
The use of coal offered reliable year-round energy in Great Britain.
Also food was expensive in Great Britain. Rich landowners had money to invest.
It was the invention and innovation of the steam engine (and later the internal combustion engine) and the advent of electrical power. These things allowed humans to get a lot of work done that previously required human labor.
These allowed large scale construction and ushered in grand new inventions that took advantage of the new power. Agriculture became more efficient. Textiles became cheap. Cotton became a commodity.
Labor had to become more skilled to take work in the new world of technology. And in some cases the less skilled fell to the bottom as their brute force labor was now taken over by machines.
There are too many examples of where a social economic system “evolved” into capitalism. In Russia, farmers worked on large collective farms but were allowed to growth and market whatever they wanted on very small plots of land (called asarts). It’s those small plots that fed Russia. In England, the manor system of shared land using a Four Course Rotation system of farming was replaced with private land via the Private and Parliamentary Enclosure movement. The common theme throughout history is based on work-reward. Socialism and Communism don’t work precisely because of that.
When Thoreau was a member of the Walden collective, he got to sit under a tree and write all day, while his counterpart is spending his time plowing in the hot sun looking at the East end of a West-bound horse. Yet, at the end of the day, they share equally. Lack of perceived fairness between the work/reward system is what broke up everything from Walden to Russia.
Capitalism may not be the best economic system, but it’s way out in front of whatever is in second place. Indeed, we wouldn’t have a border problem if that were not true.
BUT, then they had a list of submitted questions and it went "pear shaped" (Britishism). At 1:03:12 this query was asked; "Are mathematical symbols free of white colonialism influence? Hopefully yes but in case they are not what would be the alternatively way forward?" This coming after the Professor Hoyt had shown various ancient number representations and highlighting that 'Arabic Numbers' were actually created in India in pre-Islamic times and then adopted by Islam scholars in the 8-900s.
So what was her response? "Excellent question" and while stating that modern symbology is what is effective, she then specified a single historical case of a Nigerian mathematician of the 1700s who developed a formula to create 'magic squares' yet because a French Diplomat (dead white guy) in Siam / Thailand wrote it down, it is now called the "Siamese Method".
YEP! A real case of "white colonialism influence" where a SE Asia country has stolen a West African's claim to fame! WOWser!
ping
Bump
Bottom line, it was several things coming together at the right time.
One part missing, wouldn’t have happened.
Providence or random?
Who used to be Donald McCloskey, a wonderful Male Libertarian economist .
Mirabile Dictu!
2 people trade goods. Each is happy. Trade expands. Everyone doing good then the parasites appear (gov’t) and they want a cut for nothing and some for their friends.