I was wondering if anyone could give me any links to some good empirical evidence for the efficacy of capitalism. Don't worry, I don't doubt it in any way, and nor do I think that empirical evidence does anything for a logical argument. However, there are many who do; after presenting people with logical arguments, I am availed with "where is the evidence?".
I'm sure you understand me.
The difference between libertarianism and socialism is that libertarians will tolerate the existence of a socialist community, but socialists can't tolerate a libertarian community.
If you need empirical evidence where we would be without capitalism have a look at the slums in Kalkutta or Cairo. Here you can study what despotism and central economic planning brings about in terms of efficacy.
Ok serious now, what evidence do you want to present other than that the median western poor has central heating, decent food, only one car, a fridge, a dish washer and cleary not much threat of ending his life or the life of his children through starvation? Compare that with the live people had in say communist russia and let them makr their own empirical "evidence".
:-)
In the begining there was nothing, and it exploded.
Terry Pratchett (on the big bang theory)
I usually like to stress the merits of *freedom* instead of capitalism. You typically get less resistance and you can more easily address questions like "If capitalism's so great, then what about the Scandinavian countries?!"
If you use this site http://www.heritage.org/index/Ranking.aspx for "freedom" rankings and this site http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php for various metrics, you should find some nice correlations.
Hernando de Soto's books are good on this.
To darkness I condemn you...
Try comparing Singapore and Hong Kong with Cuba and North Korea.
"I cannot prove, but am prepared to affirm, that if you take care of clarity in reasoning, most good causes will take care of themselves, while some bad ones are taken care of as a matter of course." -Anthony de Jasay
Walter Block likes to cite "East Germany vs. West Germany" and "North Korea vs. South Korea" as it is a relatively controlled experiment(which is rare in economics). You see a situation where you have a group of people who are split down the middle, one goes with a capitalist system, one goes with a socialist system, and the capitalist system results in FAR better standards of living.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_Chile
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