How Come We're So Rich? | Gary North

The Lou Church Memorial Lecture, sponsored by the Lou Church Foundation, presented at the Austrian Economics Research Conference. Recorded 21 March 2013 at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Includes an introduction by Joseph T. Salerno.

Music by Kevin MacLeod.

[hermandadiberoamericanadem]

One of the most important messages ever given by Dr. Gary North. Amazing! Enlightening! This is my third time listening to it! Still breathtaking.

[lengthyounarther]

Thanks Mr. North for lowering my time preference so much that I spent almost 100 FRN's on Amazon buying the books your referenced in this video.

[kcmerced]

Dr. Gary North was a monument for God's Kingdom on Earth, as it is in Heaven in the 20th & 21st centuries.
Phenomenonal works...
It is hard to believe that any other servant would be welcomed more into Christ's arms...
than Gary North.

[marksuave]

He hit the nail on the head when he brought up the speed of information. Crucial point. Human freedom, and freedom of information and the speed of information did it. Brilliant lecture!

[misterRhistory]

I have listened to this talk innumerable times! Amazing information!

[hermandadiberoamericanadem]

All I can say is wow! This video just took my breath away. Awesome! Thanks. We need this in Spanish. Consider that the command to Love your neighbor as yourself is the basic foundation. If I love myself and my family I will pursue my own good and well being and wealth (ethical self interest as commanded by God. Postive side of the command "thou shalt not steal") and that leads, if I do it with biblical ethics to treat my neighbor ethically according to the 6 commands of the 10 words (Debar) that have to do with my neighbor. But consider that the command starts with self.

[JeffersonianTV]

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

[Myndir]

In that sermon, Ezra Stiles also predicted that slavery would be abolished.

[jantonif]

Simply amazing ..! Had been looking for information we will reveal the root of the exponential growth of wealth. Since in the various areas of science and art there is always some historical data showing a radical change in growth, perfection and understanding of man and his existence by those contemplating considering this same God, this is evidence plain and simple. I appreciate your deducacion in the project Dr. North.

[panpiper]

It is important to realize that the same technology is and has been available to the whole rest of the world, but the historical explosion in economic well being was limited to those parts of the world that allowed individual entrepreneurship and private wealth accumulation.

[Myndir]

No-one is disputing that they were thwarted, but sometimes a person is thwarted by institutions and sometimes by their own way of looking at the world. Doing things the same way as your ancestors did is a very common way to live.

Also, it's ideas that drive the development of social systems, so we have to explain why the institutional basis of capitalism developed when and where it did. So we can agree that social systems are important and also ask why they changed when and where they did.

[Myndir]

Gary North could be forgiven for having forgotten this, but there's a connected video on youtube from FEE, in which John K. Williams (who Gary North presumably met and knew at FEE) talks about, among other things, the work of Fernand Braudel and Jean Baechler in demolishing materialist explanations of the rise of capitalism, and points out how this has major consequences for Marxism.

It's called "The Socialist Wizards of Oz" and it's a fascinating period piece with some great name-dropping.

[kavihwilliams]

Excellent theory by Mr. North. I would also throw in a couple other items that I have noticed recently, but I'm not sure if they are prevalent enough to be considered strong factors. Those would be dependency and fixing crises. The less dependent you are, the more free you are to think objectively. Besides just being motivated for reasons of vanity, clout, wealth, or creativity, I feel the most valuable products are created when one is motivated to fix a crisis.

[dralvord]

If you ever want to read a fascinating book, pick up "Temple and Cosmos" by Hugh Nibley. He lays down some pretty solid evidence that alphabets, language, and much of civilization were revealed to man in Temples.


Its as though part of being a "child of God" is the gift of language, or an alphabet.

In other words, there is an intelligent being who reveals things to us from time to time. Not that we aren't clever on our own, but that giant leaps usually come through the inspiration.

[ChrisBarcelo]

Humans have free will and adjust their behaviors to a myriad of situations and environments; thus information cannot be quantified and tested in meaningful ways. This is why the praxeological approach of Mises is practical and applicable to economics and the study of human action.

[Myndir]

Pursuit of self interest does not equal entrepreneurship. The best way to get ahead in society in the Middle Ages, for most men, was to get a head (or a lot of heads) off other men.

The philosophical revolution that North and McCloskey are interested in convinced people to pursue their self-interest through trade and industriousness, which had previously been "dishonourable" ways of becoming rich and still are in the minds of many.

[rivenraven]

I would like to hear an economist answer the questions; how do we plan on maintaining infinite growth on a finite planet while in this global consumerism model in which waste, exploitation, and inefficient use of resources has become the norm? How do you justify the conscious withdrawal of efficiency and sustainability in the common business practice known as “planned obsolescence”?

[kavihwilliams]

Good points Chris. I guess determining if something is a crisis or not is relative. I only meant that if good people attempt to fix a real crisis, usually something very valuable will arise, because they are morally driven to fix something bigger than just themselves. Determining what is a real vs. fake crisis is a different conversation.

[MillionthUsername]

It's a fascinating question. Perhaps a better answer is that it took time for economics to be rightly understood as the way markets work can only be fully revealed when there are high-functioning markets to observe. So, rather than a shift in values, it's more like the gradual discovery of economic opportunity and the expectation of success in exploiting B because the exploitation of A has now been observed and is in the public consciousness. Then a trickle becomes a flood.

[ChrisBarcelo]

I can't speak for North but from his readings I ascertain that he does not hold this is a definitive necessity in ALL areas. That being said there are some areas it is sound, and others where it doesn't hold weight. It would depend on what exactly you are questioning.