Mccloskey 19 [Mccloskey, Deirdre Nansen, Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication at the University of Illinois, 2019, "Why Liberalism Works : How True Liberal Values Produce A Freer, More Equal, Prosperous World For All.," Yale University Press, SMarx, JTong]
And it came to pass. What I call the Great Enrichment is the chief sci- entific finding of economic history. The poorest people in the developed econ- omies and billions in the poor countries have been the biggest beneficiaries of liberal economic growth. The rich became richer, true. But the poor have gas heating, cars, smallpox vaccinations, indoor plumbing, cheap travel, rights for women, low child mortality, adequate nutrition, taller bodies, doubled life expectancy, schooling for their kids, newspapers, a vote, a shot at uni- versity, and respect. Never had anything remotely similar happened, not in the glory of Greece or the grandeur of Rome, not in ancient Egypt or medi- eval China. Yet you will have heard recently that our biggest problem is inequality, and that we must make men and women all equal. No, we should not—at least, not if we want to lift up the poor. Ethically speaking, the true liberal should care chiefly about whether the poorest among us are moving closer to having enough to live with dignity and to participate in a democracy. They are. Even in already rich countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, the real income of the poor has recently risen, not, as one hears daily, stagnated—if, that is, income is correctly measured to include better health care, better working conditions, more years of education, longer years of retirements, and, above all, the rising quality of goods and services—better autos and better medicine. Admittedly it is rising at a slower pace than in the 1950s. But that era of rising prosperity was a catch-up from the wretched set- backs of the Great Depression and the War.
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