“There are no doubt some things available to the modern workman that Louis XIV himself would have been delighted to have—modern dentistry for instance. On the whole, however, a budget on that level had little that really mattered to gain from capitalist achievement. Even speed of traveling may be assumed to have been a minor consideration for so very dignified a gentleman. Electric lighting is no great boon to anyone who has enough money to buy a sufficient number of candles and to pay servants to attend them. It is the cheap cloth, the cheap cotton and rayon fabric, boots, motorcars and so on that are the typical achievements of capitalist production, and not as rule improvements that would mean much to the rich man. Queen Elizabeth owned silk stockings. The capitalist achievement does not typically consist in providing more silk stockings for queens but in bringing them within reach of factory girls in return for steadily decreasing amounts of effort.”
— Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy
HT: Russ Roberts
2 responses so far ↓
Pickerhead :: Pickings from the Webvine ::October 15, 2007 // October 15, 2007 at 1:32 pm |
[...] Everyday Economist has a good quote for the day. [...]
The Success of Global Capitalism « The Everyday Economist // October 30, 2007 at 12:41 pm |
[...] for measuring one’s standard of living. It is a shame that more people do not read Schumpeter. If they did, they would understand why the benefits of capitalism and economic growth actually [...]