Uploaded January 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The world is richer today than ever before, and many people live in comfort that would have been unimaginable 200 years ago. Why? Most economists—from Adam Smith and Karl Marx to Thomas Piketty—say the Great Enrichment since 1800 came from accumulated capital. Professor Deirdre McCloskey disagrees, fiercely.
In this lecture, McCloskey captivatingly summarizes modern economics and history, and concludes that it was ideas, not matter or institutions, that made the difference.
This lecture was delivered at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs on April 2, 2019, and sponsored by the Institute for Humane Studies. Deirdre N. McCloskey is a Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The world is richer today than ever before, and many people live in comfort that would have been unimaginable 200 years ago. Why? Most economists—from Adam Smith and Karl Marx to Thomas Piketty—say the Great Enrichment since 1800 came from accumulated capital. Professor Deirdre McCloskey disagrees, fiercely.
In this lecture, McCloskey captivatingly summarizes modern economics and history, and concludes that it was ideas, not matter or institutions, that made the difference.
This lecture was delivered at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs on April 2, 2019, and sponsored by the Institute for Humane Studies. Deirdre N. McCloskey is a Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
