As Naive as Naive Gets
19 August 2006
Editor, Harper’s Magazine
666 Broadway
New York, NY 10012
Dear Editor:
While a handful of firms profit from war, Lewis Lapham's suggestion that war generally is good for capitalism is wildly mistaken ("Lionhearts," September 2006).
Whether war is justified or not, it enhances government's ability to confiscate private property - it devours human and non-human resources, raising the cost of labor and materials - it increases the likelihood of wage and price controls - it tempts governments to debase currencies - it lures governments to raise taxes - it spawns embargoes which cut firms off from customers and suppliers - it multiplies the chances that factories, offices, inventories, infrastructure, and supply facilities will be destroyed. At the very least, it makes the future frighteningly uncertain. For these and other reasons, war is anathema to industry and commerce.
Understanding that the capitalist ethos differs greatly from the martial ethos, Napoleon contemptuously dismissed capitalist England as "a nation of shopkeepers." His understanding of capitalism was more profound than Mr. Lapham's - even if Napoleon's estimation of the full consequences of this difference in ethos proved to be far off the mark.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, Harper’s Magazine
666 Broadway
New York, NY 10012
Dear Editor:
While a handful of firms profit from war, Lewis Lapham's suggestion that war generally is good for capitalism is wildly mistaken ("Lionhearts," September 2006).
Whether war is justified or not, it enhances government's ability to confiscate private property - it devours human and non-human resources, raising the cost of labor and materials - it increases the likelihood of wage and price controls - it tempts governments to debase currencies - it lures governments to raise taxes - it spawns embargoes which cut firms off from customers and suppliers - it multiplies the chances that factories, offices, inventories, infrastructure, and supply facilities will be destroyed. At the very least, it makes the future frighteningly uncertain. For these and other reasons, war is anathema to industry and commerce.
Understanding that the capitalist ethos differs greatly from the martial ethos, Napoleon contemptuously dismissed capitalist England as "a nation of shopkeepers." His understanding of capitalism was more profound than Mr. Lapham's - even if Napoleon's estimation of the full consequences of this difference in ethos proved to be far off the mark.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Tuesday May 8, 2007 at 1:00pm