Benjamin Friedman: evaluation

Transcript context

…It’s a common argument from historians, and sometimes Marxist historians — disputed, to be clear — that the rise of capitalism was accompanied by a rise in anti-Semitism, a rise in racism — different forms of domination — and that these were part and parcel of the same process. Do you agree? You’ve written a famous book, Moral Consequences of Economic Growth. Did religion, as it manifested itself in the form of capitalism and higher state capacity, also give rise to these very bad events? I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s a connection. We can certainly point to successful market-oriented societies that have had their share of religious prejudice, whether it’s against Jews or Roman Catholics. Today, whether it’s against Muslims in various Western countries. But I don’t see any connection. In fact, I would argue the opposite. I would argue that what makes room for these people to come to societies where they are not indigenous, and to do well, and to do well in ways that integrate them in the society, is precisely the feature of economic growth. Now, that’s an answer about economic growth, not about capitalism versus communism versus something else, but the historical fact is that we haven’t seen that kind of economic growth except under market-oriented economies, and therefore, what’s true of societies that experience economic growth, by and large, turns out to be a statement about market-oriented economies as well. Is that a U-shaped curve, however? We know the Dutch Republic, the later British Empire, the United States were havens for persecuted people. But also, if you look at the very early years of colonizing the world, it arguably needed economic growth to project so much imperial power — kill or kill through disease so many indigenous peoples. Is it the case that benefits of economic growth for tolerance only kick in much later, and first you have to go through what are actually a number of centuries where economic growth is very bad for tolerance and mutual coexistence?…

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