0:02

Okay, we're told, so maybe capitalism

0:04

is efficient. Maybe it generates more

0:06

wealth than other systems, but what

0:08

about values? What about things that

0:10

can't be measured in cash? Things

0:13

like kindness and loyalty and integrity?

0:16

Well, let me say something that

0:18

you won't hear very often. Let

0:21

me make the moral case for

0:23

capitalism. Let's go back

0:25

nearly 12,000 years to

0:28

the moment when one of our ancestors

0:30

made a world-changing discovery. It

0:32

turned out that if you left seeds in fertile

0:34

soil, plants would grow from them. Instead

0:37

of having to forage, you could produce

0:40

your own grains or fruits where you wanted.

0:42

But it didn't take long for someone

0:45

to make the next discovery. Rather

0:47

than spending all year tending to your

0:49

own crops, you could wait for

0:51

your neighbor to bring in his harvest and

0:54

then steal it. And then

0:56

came the truly diabolical discovery.

1:00

If you wanted to maximize the ratio

1:02

of effort to outcome, you

1:04

could organize a gang of thugs and

1:06

seize not only your neighbor's harvest, but

1:08

everyone's harvest, regularizing your

1:10

plunder through tithes, tolls and

1:13

taxes. And thus it

1:15

continued until, well, until

1:17

roughly the end of the 17th century and

1:19

the birth of modern liberal capitalism. Sure,

1:22

there were premonitions before then, little

1:24

tremors of freedom, but almost everyone

1:26

on the planet still lived in

1:28

servitude and penury. Every

1:30

previous society was based on

1:33

systematized oppression. Ruling

1:35

elites would use the institutions of the state

1:37

to loot its resources and then rig the

1:39

rules so that their children would inherit the

1:41

same privileged position. A

1:44

Bronze Age slave empire was not so different in

1:46

this sense from a medieval

1:48

European monarchy or a

1:50

20th century African kleptocracy, or

1:53

come to that from those modern states

1:55

that have avoided the liberal capitalist revolution.

1:58

Oppression served as a and bondage

2:00

with a lot of almost every human

2:02

being from the moment civilization began until

2:05

an eye blink ago. We don't

2:08

know how lucky we are to live at

2:10

a time and in a place where the

2:12

rules are above the rulers. The

2:14

great Victorian jurist Sir Henry Main summarized

2:17

the move to modern liberty in three

2:19

words. Status to

2:22

contract. In nearly

2:24

every previous society our relations with one

2:27

another were dictated by status, that is

2:29

birth and caste. In

2:31

a liberal capitalist society we're

2:33

free to make one-off freestanding arrangements

2:35

with each other without needing

2:37

to ask anyone else's permission. Our

2:40

agreements, our contracts, are

2:42

enforced by an independent court system and

2:45

adult citizens are equal in the eyes of the

2:47

law. That's it. That's

2:50

the magic formula. Status

2:53

to contract. Grant it

2:55

and the rest follows. It's

2:58

the difference between North Korea and

3:00

South Korea, between China and Taiwan,

3:02

between Russia and Finland, between Haiti

3:04

and Bermuda. In a

3:06

society defined by status you

3:09

get rich by sucking up to the people in charge,

3:12

emperors or peoples commissars

3:14

or presidents for life. But

3:17

in a society defined by contract

3:19

you get rich by offering a product or a service

3:22

to the people around you. As

3:24

the 20th century economist Joseph Schumpeter put it,

3:27

the capitalist achievement does not typically

3:29

consist in providing more silk stockings

3:31

for queens but in bringing

3:33

them within the reach of factory girls.

3:36

When I buy something on Amazon, yes,

3:38

I'm enriching Jeff Bezos. I'm adding fractionally

3:40

to his net wealth. But

3:43

he is also enriching me, letting

3:45

me buy pretty much whatever I want without having

3:47

to get out of my chair. No

3:50

other economic system rests on

3:52

voluntary exchange. Every

3:55

other system requires coercion. And

3:57

that is the moral case for

3:59

capitalism. I'm. Not just remixes

4:01

richer though it does. Not. Show

4:04

for it. raises the poorest on the planet,

4:06

making allies' outcomes more equal though it does

4:08

that to. Know. The.

4:10

Moral argument for capitalism is

4:12

that it's the only economic

4:14

system that values dignity and

4:16

freedom. And yes, equality. It

4:19

disdains distinctions of race and

4:21

create. One. Customers money is as

4:23

good as the next. As.

4:26

Also put it in seventeen, Sixty Four.

4:28

And the London Stock Exchange and you

4:30

will see representative from all nations gathered

4:33

together for the good of mankind. Here

4:35

do Muslim and Christian deal with each other

4:37

as a whole would have the same face.

4:40

And the only people called infidels.

4:43

Of who go bankrupt. Under

4:45

Capitalism. We. Need to think of what

4:47

other people want. Of. What we can do for

4:50

them. Is. How we get a head. Whereas.

4:52

Socialism replaces on natural human relations

4:55

with state control. Capitalism

4:57

draws us into productive networks

5:00

of mutual dependency. We.

5:02

Become more attentive, more empathetic,

5:04

and thus more aware of

5:06

the case for universal Human

5:08

Rights. Capitalism.

5:11

Doesn't just make us better off. It

5:14

makes us. Better. People.

5:17

On Daniel Hannan, author of Inventing Freedom How the

5:19

English Speaking peoples made the modern world. For

5:21

Praeger University. Thank.

5:23

You for watching this video to keep

5:26

break as you videos free. Please consider

5:28

making a tax deductible donation.