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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3452 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 29, 2023

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Not-so-small scale question but this is probably the only place I can get an informed answer on this not constrained by political correctness: what’s your overarching theory of why Western Europe and its descendants are the world’s most influential civilization of the past few centuries?

I'll place a chip on the invention of fractional reserve banking. Every advantage of the west is due mostly to its superior wealth, and the growth of wealth is impossible without an expanding money supply enabled by fractional reserve banks. This growth in wealth enables everything else from scientific research to military conquest, and the forward-looking nature of financial contracts causes the society to adopt a favorable disposition to planning, stability, and economic investment.

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