Bring Back the Middle Ages!
by rrusczyk, Aug 14, 2009, 11:04 PM
OK, not literally, but here's an interesting article that gives a quick long view of the global economy over a long period of time. I don't know the history well enough to know how accurate all the author's information is, and, as I read it, the author makes a serious error in conflating self-interested competition with corporatism. What he describes as more ideal economic structures from the Middle Ages work, I think, through a great deal of self-interested activity (as opposed to "communal" activity), so I'm pretty confused about the rocks he throws in the direction of self-interested action, when he really wants to be throwing rocks at repressive self-interested action as performed by governments and many large corporations, which is quite distinct from co-operative self-interested action. Nevertheless, it was well worth the time I spent reading it.
February 2012
January 2012