Chapter 85 Why is the third section the West?

Of course, it is impossible to understand the recipe for free enterprise economics well in a vacuum, let alone use it effectively.The effectiveness of these prescriptions depends largely on political conditions and economic conditions that I have described elsewhere.Why only modern Western civilization has led to the sustained prosperity that has changed people's lives and prospects over the past 250 years is open to debate.Clearly, economic growth is not simply the mechanical result of the combination of capital and labor.Nor can economic progress be simply attributed to technological developments, for technological developments are not only engines of economic growth, they are themselves facilitated by cultural and other conditions.In fact, equally important is how to evaluate and use science and technology.Indeed, it is this one that highlights modern Western civilization.For example, the Chinese invented gunpowder and the compass used by sailors, but unlike the West, they did not use them to build a maritime empire.The Tibetans discovered the wheel movement, but were only content to use it to make prayer wheels.The Byzantines invented the clockwork, but only used it for court ceremonies, lifting the emperor in front of visiting ambassadors.But cultural and religious conditions cannot explain the whole story.The Christian emphasis on the moral aspects of every responsible person was undoubtedly an important factor in the development of a liberal political and economic system with Western characteristics.But in the East of the Orthodox Church.Its impact is clearly very different.The Protestant Reformation and non-conformity may have also played a role, but this cannot explain the development of banking and commerce in the Middle Ages or the rise of Venice.Naturally, any "explanation" would not be an explanation if it ignored the role played by the Jews in the development of capitalism.

But two particular factors appear to be crucial, not only as part of a broader historical interpretation, but as pointers to future policy.The first is the rule of law developed over centuries, which provides the confidence necessary to grow business, banking and trade.Clearly this has important implications for the strategy now being implemented to establish free enterprise in former communist countries.The second extremely important condition is that during the critical period, "Europe consisted of a number of divided and thus competing states and jurisdictions".Thus, no government can implement a policy that undermines the impetus for economic freedom (or, indeed, political and religious freedom) without fear of losing resources because, despite the difficulties and costs that may be great, talented individuals ultimately Possibly take their technology and capital to other countries that are more welcoming to them.Today, competition between governments and their different legislative, fiscal and regulatory systems remains a factor that restrains the abuse of power and the pauperization of societies.Some now want to submerge the nation-states of Europe in the United States of Europe, so that the centralized bureaucracy will not let any business escape its control by coordinating regulations.