The United States stands apart from other countries when it comes to our vast wealth. For
starters, our industrial revolution paved the way for goods and services. Previously horses were used for
services such as mail and goods but with our improvement during the industrial revolution, we paved
the way for advancements in machinery that increased the exchange of goods and services for our
country. People were getting their products faster and services were being done in even less time. The
benefit of our advanced machinery would not have come with governmental assistance but with
individual creativity that started with trains and then led to airplanes by the Wright brothers. As
McCloskey pointed out, there is plenty shelves packed with goods in supermarkets and shopping malls,
we have more than we could have ever hoped for and we use our extra goods and services to trade with
other countries. She later classifies this as “liberty of trade.” McCloskey also points out that even as
recently as the 1980s, hip replacement was considered an experimental procedure, now it is quite
routine. Similar to our industrial revolution, innovation in machinery without restrictions from the
government laid the ground work for what we see today. I believe an example of our wealth is directly
proportional to innovation without oppression.
The capitalist ideology of our government is another critical factor to our success, few countries
adopt this approach of individuality. By injecting growth to areas where there were none is key
capitalistic ideology and with it we strived forward. Capital to grow and a rule of law were necessary
according to McCloskey as was a strong labor force and I agree. Irish immigrants in the 1940s stand as a
resolute example of people coming to our country and making it a better place to grow. A great labor
force is needed for expansion of wealth. Matt Ridley stated that over the past two centuries “ideas
started having sex.” The idea of the steam engine running on coal mining rails as well as lawn mowers
coupled with a miniature gasoline engine are examples by Ridley and he isn’t wrong. Innovation can be
found in the hardest of places if the innovator is willing to look. The incorporation of these ideas thought
up by ordinary citizens yielded a burst to our wealth. Not only was it something as simple as electric
lights and central heating and cooling, but also as McCloskey states, the “human capital.”
The ability to choose your dream, your education to better yourself was not possible in the past.
There were too few institutions to educate yourself. With the formation of colleges in every state, we
grew our minds, and this was a positive factor in our wealth. “Once we had the ideas for railroads or air
conditioning…getting the wherewithal to do them was comparatively simple, because they were
obviously so profitable.” Without the human capital, none of these innovations would come. The Great
enrichment came to pass in northwestern Europe due to one big issue, liberty. It turns out liberated
people would go on to do “ingenious” things. The oppression seen by many countries going back to the
1600s did not allow the people to blossom, instead they were held back by “a hierarchy of lords or
bureaucrats.” The Great enrichment began in Europe as they came to understand that the common
people should be liberated to have a chance of innovation and bettering the country around them and
as McCloskey put it, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” We could not be where we are in our
wealth without first admitting that liberty led us to our great wealth and the pursuit of our own
individual happiness. Fortune favors the bold and Adam Smith believed we needed to be bold to pursue
advancements within our country but more importantly within ourselves. Independence is a prime
factor of our current wealth, “allowing every man to pursue his own interest, his own way.” The idea of
liberalism as spoken by Richard Rumbold as he faced hanging in 1685 was ridiculed by many and only
agreed upon by a few. As the arrow of time pressed forward, people would not come around to the idea
until centuries later “virtually everyone did and so the Great Enrichment” began.
