Sometimes it can be helpful to consider atypical examples of a subject you are studying. In the Welcome post for this blog, I quoted Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, which defines “to produce” as “to give birth or rise to,” “to cause to have existence or to happen,” “to compose, create, or bring out by intellectual or physical effort.” With this definition in…
Philip S. Holland Posts
As recounted in a recent New YorkTimes article, President Emanuel Macron of France has been trying to persuade supporters of the Yellow Vest protest movement that his proposals will alleviate their economic pains. Some in the movement have called for an increase in taxes on the wealthiest citizens, in order to make more equal the current tax burden, and also…
In his famous treatise, the economist Adam Smith reminds us “that wealth does not consist in money, or in gold and silver; but in what money purchases, and is valuable only for purchasing.” Put another way, a nation’s wealth comprises “its land, houses, and consumable goods of all different kinds” — that is, the products and services available for purchase.…
Not too long ago, shopping for an item could take considerable time. Assuming that you knew what you were looking for, several phone calls still might be required to locate where it was for sale. Then you might spend an hour or two to travel there, make the purchase, and return home. Or perhaps no one had what you were…
The earliest proponent of the division of labor I’m familiar with is Socrates. In Plato’s Republic, for example, he argues for why we each must choose a profession and work at it – that all work requires a kind of devotion – if we want to become proficient enough to produce useful goods and services. For him, being productive depends…
One of my favorite places to visit is Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, where 1820s-1830s New England is created in living and loving detail. During one visit, I recall an interpreter explaining that it requires four years to raise and train an ox to be productive at plowing and transporting items on the farm. That, of course, is a…
In a 1675 letter to Robert Hooke, Sir Isaac Newton wrote, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Had he instead changed the words “seen further” to “produced anything,” he might have been speaking for any productive person. Every act of production, even in the simplest of economies, happens only by using previous…
In Mourt’s Relation, compiled from the journals of their first year at Plymouth Plantation, William Bradford and Edward Winslow describe what is now referred to as the first American Thanksgiving. By Spring, they and their fellow settlers had built seven dwelling houses and, with much help from their Indian neighbors, achieved a good harvest. In response, Governor Bradford “sent four…
“I could express my Faith in shorter terms. He who loves the Workman and his Work, and does what he can to preserve and improve it, shall be accepted of him.” — John Adams (Letter to Thomas Jefferson, June 28, 1812)
We human beings have many needs – for food, shelter, clothing, transportation, communication, medicine, friendship, entertainment, love, and more – no matter wherever or whenever we live. The source of such needs is our biology and, as such, are immutable, part of who we were, are, and will always be. In this sense, an ancient Athenian and a contemporary American…