Capitalism’s Dutch Dynamic

The very word ‘capitalism’ instantly divides people. For many, it is the economic system that has delivered millions from poverty and disease. Others, ranging from Marxists to radical environmentalists, insist that capitalism is responsible for untold misery and oppression. Ergo, it’s not surprising that much ink continues to be spilt on the topic of what brought these economic arrangements into being. The explanations range from the dialectics of history to Protestantism, the Scientific Revolution, or the triumph of bourgeois virtues.