Quote:
Originally Posted by kerry
Well, something in Northern European culture caused capitalism to take off between 1500 and 1850. Obviously access to natural resources in the new world had something to do with it but there also must have been cultural reasons. Calvinist countries like Scotland and Holland were really successful so it seems reasonable to look for some cultural causes in Calvinism. I'm pretty sure that at the time Calvin wrote down his ideas about usury and rate of return on borrowed money the Catholic church was still opposed to usury. I'll have to check into that. That would account for why Protestant cultures had a leg up in capitalist expansion over Catholic cultures.
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Could it be that they simply saw their neighbor getting rich and wanting some of the spoils themselves? If they had more access to natural resources and exploration, etc, etc, it would make it easier for someone to get the idea that there is more out there and I want mine.