Re: Re: Re: Re: Reparations and capitalist progress.

[Rod Hay <rodhay@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The incentives provided by capitalism certainly lead to an acceleration of
scientific development. Capitalism also provided a surplus which could finance
time away from more mundane economic activities. The advent of mass education
expanded the talent pool from which scientists could be drawn.

Rod

Brad De Long wrote:

> > How much "progress" occurs
> >because of science?  Do we attribute science to capitalism or can we
> >consider the scientific process to be "non-capitalist?"
>
> Good and hard questions. I think that you would have to distinguish between
> "science", "research", and "development" in order to answer them. And think
> hard about the fact that it was not in producing the heavy industrial goods
> of the second industrial revolution but in developing and producing
> twentieth century technologies and the goods they made possible that really
> existing socialism fell down.
>
> And you have to think about Lysenko...
>
> Brad DeLong

--
Rod Hay
rodhay@xxxxxxxxxx
The History of Economic Thought Archive
http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/index.html
Batoche Books
http://home.golden.net/~rodhay
52 Eby Street South
Kitchener, Ontario
N2G 3L1
Canada