The Ethical Dilemma of American Capitalism

Hyma Albert , “The Economic Views of the Protestant Reformers,” reprinted in Protestantism and Capitalism (Boston: D. C. Heath and Co., 1959), pp. 94–106.

Tawney R. H. , Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (Gloucester, Massachusetts: Peter Smith, 1962), pp. 110–113.

Ibid.

Ibid.

See Newman Philip Charles , The Development of Economic Thought (New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1952), pp. 52–56, for an exposition of Smith's viewpoint on this question.

Ibid., pp. 78–88.

Haney Lewis H. , History of Economic Thought (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1949), pp. 443–475.

Bell John Fred , A History of Economic Thought (New York: The Ronald Press Co., 1953), pp. 571–597.

Von Mises Ludwig , Human Action: A Treatise on Economics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1949), especially pp. 258–323.

Friedman Milton , Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962), 202 pp.

Allen Frederick Lewis , The Big Change (New York: Bantam Books, 1961), pp. 56–62. See also Tebbel John , The Inheritors (New York: Popular Library, 1963), pp. 15–41.

Allen , op. cit., pp. 62–82. See also Dorfman Joseph , The Economic Mind in American Civilization (New York: The Viking Press, 1949), III, 49–82.

Clemence Richard V. Doody Francis S. , The Schumpeterian System (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Press, Inc., 1950), 117 pp.

Bain Joe , Pricing, Distribution, and Employment (New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1948), pp. 97–106.

Dorfman , op. cit., pp. 49–82.

One of many modern examples of this type of thinking is Goldwater Barry , Conscience of a Conservative (New York: Hillman Books, 1960), 127 pp. The general theme of the early American blending of Calvinism and classical economics is covered by Rostow Eugene V. , “The Ethics of Competition Revisited,” California Management Review, Vol. V, No. 3 (1963), 13–24.

Fullerton Kemper , “Calvinism and Capitalism: An Explanation of the Weber Thesis,” reprinted in Protestantism and Capitalism, op. cit., p. 11.

Golob Eugene , The Ism's: A History and Evaluation (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1954), pp. 541–560.

Inefficiency here means that more output could be achieved with the same input using the pure competition system. A deviation such as entry control into a given business (one frequently used economic weapon of the 1930's) has the economic effect of distorting resource allocation and lowering potential production. See Lerner Abba P. , Economics of Control (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1944), pp. 7–77. In a similar manner, such legislation as price controls, minimum wage laws, and similar controls designed to protect hapless workers, businessmen, or consumers will have the same effect.

Thus, annual per-capita gross national product in 1929 was $857, as compared to $223 (in 1929 prices) in the period 1869–1873. The real per-capita income rise during the period was 388 per cent. See Historical Statistics of the United States (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1960), p. 139.

Allen , op. cit., pp. 58–62.

Ibid., p. 131. See also Childs Marquis W. Cater Douglass , Ethics in a Business Society (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1954), pp. 63–82.

Golob , op. cit., pp. 125–145.

Wright Chester W. , Economic History of the United States (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1941), pp. 887–894.

Golob , op. cit., pp. 125–145.

This feeling emerges most strongly in works of fiction. See Allan , op. cit., pp. 235–238, for a discussion of this point.

Taylor Overton H. , A History of Economic Thought (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1960), pp. 444–471.

Keynes John M. , The General Theory (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1936), 403 pp. See also Newman , op. cit., pp. 372–399.

See, for example, Buckley William F. Jr. , Up From Liberalism (New York: Hillman Books, 1961), pp. 157–161; 177–178.

The present Peace Corps is one modern example of this philosophy in action.

Von Mises , op. cit., pp. 610–619.

Thus, in 1958, all fifteen of the countries of the world with per-capita incomes of over $701 per year were those which had followed the capitalist ethic extensively—with the single (possible) exception of France. They were Canada, the United States, Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Iceland, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. See Alpert Paul , Economic Development (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1963), pp. 7–8. No country where the Calvinist ethic had deeply penetrated was not on this list of most wealthy countries, while none of the non-Calvinist nations had yet achieved such economic success.

Packard Vance , The Waste Makers (New York: David McKay Co., 1960), 340 pp.

Ibid., pp. 159–170.

White William H. Jr. , The Organization Man (New York: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1957), 471 pp.

As defined in Rafferty Max , Suffer Little Children (New York: Devin-Adair Co., 1962) pp. 58–66.

Buckley , op. cit., pp. 121–131.