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Bourgeois Virtue and the History of P and S

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  • McCloskey, Deirdre N.

Abstract

Since the triumph of a business culture a century and half ago the businessman has been scorned, and so the phrase “bourgeois virtue” sounds like an oxymoron. Economists since Bentham have believed that anyway virtue is beside the point: what matters for explanation is Prudence. But this is false in many circumstances, even strictly economic circumstances. An economic history that insists on Prudence Alone is misspecified, and will produce biased coefficients. And it will not face candidly the central task of economic history, an apology for or a criticism of a bourgeois society.

Suggested Citation

  • McCloskey, Deirdre N., 1998. "Bourgeois Virtue and the History of P and S," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 297-317, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:58:y:1998:i:02:p:297-317_02
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    Cited by:

    1. Wicks, Rick, 2008. "A Model of Dynamic Balance among the Three Spheres of Society – Markets, Governments, and Communities – Applied to Understanding the Relative Importance of Social Capital and Social Goods," Working Papers in Economics 292, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics, revised 01 Jan 2009.
    2. Jimena Hurtado, 2005. "The Utilitarian Foundations Of The Economic Approach To Human Behavior," Documentos CEDE 3633, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    3. Greasley, David & Oxley, Les, 2000. "British Industrialization, 1815-1860: A Disaggregate Time-Series Perspective," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 98-119, January.
    4. Ernst Fehr & Karla Hoff, 2011. "Tastes, castes, and culture: The influence of society on preferences," ECON - Working Papers 026, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    5. Wicks, Rick, 2006. "Modeling the Effects of Economic Behavior in Determining the Organization of Society," Working Papers in Economics 195, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    6. Kang, Sung Won & Rockoff, Hugh, 2015. "Capitalizing patriotism: the Liberty loans of World War I," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 45-78, April.
    7. Wicks, Rick, 2011. "Assumption without representation: the unacknowledged abstraction from communities and social goods," MPRA Paper 51674, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Choi, Ginny Seung & Storr, Virgil Henry, 2023. "The morality of markets in theory and empirics," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 590-607.
    9. Wenjing Zhang & Hengzhou Xu, 2017. "Exploring the causal relationship between carbon emissions and land urbanization quality in China using a panel data analysis," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1445-1462, August.
    10. Emmett, Ross B., 2012. "Of talk, economics, love and innovation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 783-786.
    11. Rick Wicks, 2012. "Assumption Without Representation: The Unacknowledged Abstraction from Communities and Social Goods," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 57(1), pages 78-95, May.

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