... There remains a credible hypothesis that #China's problems were as much financial as they were resource-based. For one thing, the unitary structure of the Empire prevented the kind of fiscal #competition that drove financial innovation in #Renaissance #Europe and beyond. Additionally, the ease with which the Empire could finance its deficits by #printing #money discouraged the development of European-style capital markets.
Coinage was also more readily available in China than in Europe, thanks to the trade surplus with the West. In short, the Middle Kingdom had far fewer incentives to develop commercial bills, bonds, and equities. When modern financial institutions eventually arrived in China in the late nineteenth century, they were introduced as part of Western imperialism, and, as we’ll see, were always vulnerable to patriotic backlashes against foreign influence.
#FiatHistory #Bitcoin #NiallFerguson
#grownostr #hayek
High-brows turn up their noses at Horatio Alger's philosophy. Yet Alger succeeded better than anybody else in stressing the most characteristic point of capitalist society.
Capitalism is a system under which everybody has the chance of acquiring wealth; it gives everybody unlimited opportunity. Not everybody, of course, is favored by good luck. Very few become millionaires. But everybody knows that strenuous effort—and nothing less than strenuous effort—pays.
All roads are open to the smart youngster. He is optimistic in the awareness of his own strength. He has self-confidence and is full of hope. And as he grows older and realizes that many of his plans have been frustrated, he has no cause for despair. His children will start the race again, and he does not see any reason why they should not succeed where he himself failed.
Life is worth living because it is full of promise.
#mises #capitalism #socialism #bureaucracy #grownostr