“...capitalism is too important and complex a subject to be left to economists. Achieving a critical comprehension of it requires perspectives beyond those characteristic of modern economics. That is why this is a history not of economic ideas, but of… — Jerry Z. Muller Copy Share Image
“It was in the eighteenth century that England became what (Adam) Smith called "a nation of shopkeepers"… (p. 58)” — Jerry Z. Muller Copy Share Image
“ An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations , which Smith published in 1776, is the most important book ever written about capitalism and its moral ramifications. Though The Wealth of Nations is in good part about commerce, it was not written for businessmen or merchants. A book focused on the analysis of market processes… — Jerry Z. Muller Copy Share
“To realize the Enlightenment ideals of formal equality, the rule of law, freedom of commerce, and religious toleration, Voltaire and many of the other philosophes looked to absolutist monarchs, whose policies they hoped to influence. The support of the philosophes for the expansion of the monarch's sovereign power was tactical. It arose not out of a principled belief in the… — Jerry Z. Muller Copy Share
“While the Christian and civic traditions were intrinsically suspicious of commerce, the Roman civil law was not. Rediscovered in the revival of learning in the twelfth century, it became the basis of civil law on the European continent. Freedom of property and the rule of law were the hallmarks of this tradition, and the protection of property from arbitrary confiscation… — Jerry Z. Muller Copy Share
“In the sixteenth century the unity of western European Christendom had been shattered by the rise of Protestantism in its various strands (Lutheran, Calvinist,… — Jerry Z. Muller Copy Share Image
“Most people in the Great Britain of (Adam) Smith's day lived in what most of us would regard as poverty. Hundreds of thousands were… — Jerry Z. Muller Copy Share Image
“The majority of any society comprised, Smith knew, not landlords or merchants, but "servants, laborers, and workmen of different kinds," who derived their income… — Jerry Z. Muller Copy Share Image
“Yet despite...accommodations with commerce, Möser regarded the market as primarily a threat--to the artisanal citizens of the town, to the traditional wants of the… — Jerry Z. Muller Copy Share Image
“For Burke, almost everything that makes life worthwhile is a result of society, its inherited codes, knowledge, and institutions. These goods are fragile, and… — Jerry Z. Muller Copy Share Image
“This emphasis on the difference between intentions and ultimate results constituted an implicit critique of the Christian and civic republican traditions, and continues to… — Jerry Z. Muller Copy Share Image
“To us, the argument for material well-being might seem uncontroversial. But in the eighteenth century, material prosperity was frequently condemned as "luxury" by religious… — Jerry Z. Muller Copy Share Image
“...capitalism is too important and complex a subject to be left to economists. Achieving a critical comprehension of it requires perspectives beyond those characteristic… — Jerry Z. Muller Copy Share Image
