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It was ideas and ideologies, not interests or institutions, which changed in Northwestern Europe, 1600–1848

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  • Deirdre McCloskey

Abstract

The economic history on which recent economics has been based is erroneous, based on the Marx and Engels of 1848. What actually happened, 1517-1789, in northwestern Europe was the coming, as Schumpeter put it, of a busiess-0respecting civilization. Ideas mattered as much as, and often more than, material or institutional circumstances, such as property law or coal deposits or exploitation. The interest-only theories of Steven Cheung and Douglass North don’t work. We need a “humanomics,” whose killer app is a new and verified theory of how we became rich. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

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  • Deirdre McCloskey, 2015. "It was ideas and ideologies, not interests or institutions, which changed in Northwestern Europe, 1600–1848," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 57-68, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joevec:v:25:y:2015:i:1:p:57-68
    DOI: 10.1007/s00191-015-0392-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Federico Etro & Elena Stepanova, 2016. "Entry of painters in the Amsterdam market of the Golden Age," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 317-348, May.
    4. Trent J. MacDonald, 2019. "The Political Economy of Non-Territorial Exit," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18871.

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