WEBVTT

00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:19.000 align:middle line:84%
-I believe that open markets
and free enterprise are the best

00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:24.000 align:middle line:84%
imaginable force for improving
human wealth and happiness.

00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.000 align:middle line:84%
-(Protesters): Who protects
the bankers?

00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:28.000 align:middle line:90%
Police protect the bankers!

00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:36.000 align:middle line:84%
-Did you ever have a moment
of doubt about capitalism?

00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.000 align:middle line:84%
-Is there some society you know
that doesn\'t run on greed?

00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:44.000 align:middle line:84%
-How would Smith see the
economic world around us?

00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:46.000 align:middle line:84%
-I think Keynes would have said
the problem is the hole

00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:48.000 align:middle line:90%
in the economy.

00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:50.000 align:middle line:84%
-Hayek really wrote
\"The Road to Serfdom\"

00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:51.000 align:middle line:84%
as a warning.
-You always have to be careful

00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:53.000 align:middle line:90%
with Marx about the one-liners.

00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:56.000 align:middle line:84%
-Polanyi, for me, was
an intellectual earthquake.

00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:00.000 align:middle line:84%
-I mean, if I had to stereotype
Ricardo, I would say he would

00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.000 align:middle line:90%
look like George Soros.

00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:14.000 align:middle line:84%
-(Narrator): We were told
that capitalism is the product

00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:20.000 align:middle line:84%
of big thinkers and big ideas,
but is it true? How did ideas

00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.000 align:middle line:84%
shape our lives? What is
their relation to reality?

00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:28.000 align:middle line:84%
Can they help us understand
today\'s economic crisis,

00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:31.000 align:middle line:84%
let alone the future
of capitalism?

00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:54.000 align:middle line:84%
-Chinese students visit
the grave of Adam Smith,

00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:59.000 align:middle line:84%
the 18th century
Scottish philosopher.

00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:05.000 align:middle line:84%
-Adam Smith is very honoured
and he wrote a very famous book.

00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:08.000 align:middle line:84%
I do not know what it is in
English. In China, we call it

00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:12.000 align:middle line:84%
\"Go Full Loon\" and
most of us know it.

00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:17.000 align:middle line:84%
-I root for the free market
team, Adam Smith is

00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:19.000 align:middle line:84%
my star player.
-Back in 1776, economist

00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:23.000 align:middle line:84%
Adam Smith shocked everyone
by saying that what governments

00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:26.000 align:middle line:84%
should actually do is just leave
people alone to buy and sell

00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.000 align:middle line:90%
freely among themselves.

00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:31.000 align:middle line:84%
-It\'s as persuasive
now as it was then.

00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:34.000 align:middle line:84%
-Everybody here knows Adam
Smith, \"the self-interest\",

00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:37.000 align:middle line:84%
\"greed is good\", \"the invisible
hand\", \"the free market\",

00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:40.000 align:middle line:84%
\"the free enterprise\", etc.
And all that, he\'s the father

00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:42.000 align:middle line:90%
of capitalism.

00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.000 align:middle line:78%
-But is he? For many,
the philosopher and his book
are

00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.000 align:middle line:84%
linked to the birth
of capitalism.

00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:57.000 align:middle line:84%
History however suggests that
capitalism was born hundreds

00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:01.000 align:middle line:84%
of years before him. And so
our story begins not with

00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:05.000 align:middle line:84%
the man, but with the world
that gave birth to him.

00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:23.000 align:middle line:84%
-Now Smith himself was brought
up in an interesting port

00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:25.000 align:middle line:90%
on the east coast of Scotland.

00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.000 align:middle line:84%
The society he lived in was
going through an absolutely

00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:38.000 align:middle line:84%
profound revolution
in its public life.

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.000 align:middle line:84%
The glorious revolution
in Britain had brought about

00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:51.000 align:middle line:84%
a religious revolution
in Scotland and then, a few

00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:57.000 align:middle line:84%
years later, Scotland is united
to England by the Act of Union

00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:02.000 align:middle line:84%
of 1707, which is still
in force. And that again brings

00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:06.000 align:middle line:90%
about a political revolution.

00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:13.000 align:middle line:84%
The point about this revolution
in public life in Scotland,

00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:18.000 align:middle line:84%
as far as Smith is concerned,
is that he puts a great onus

00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:23.000 align:middle line:84%
on the Scottish middling ranks.
And the duty of this class is

00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:28.000 align:middle line:84%
to seek the improvement
of public life, the improvement

00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:31.000 align:middle line:84%
of Scottish institutions,
the improvement of Scottish

00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:36.000 align:middle line:84%
religion, the improvement above
all of the Scottish economy.

00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:46.000 align:middle line:84%
When Smith moved from Kirkcaldy
from this house in 1778,

00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:51.000 align:middle line:84%
he moved with his mother who was
by that stage a very frail

00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:53.000 align:middle line:90%
old lady.

00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.000 align:middle line:84%
When Smith lived in Kirkcaldy,
he was used to be able and look

00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:02.000 align:middle line:84%
out onto vast expanses of beach,
of sea. Here, he\'s overlooking

00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:05.000 align:middle line:84%
gardens, overlooking
the Canongate Church,

00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.000 align:middle line:84%
which is where he and
his mother worshiped at.

00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:13.000 align:middle line:84%
It\'s interesting because
from one of these windows,

00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:18.000 align:middle line:84%
Smith was able to look out
over the monument to his old

00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:24.000 align:middle line:84%
and very best friend
and partner, David Hume.

00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:30.000 align:middle line:84%
Hume and Smith\'s philosophical
partnership was one of the great

00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.000 align:middle line:84%
formative influences on shaping
the Scottish enlightenment.

00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:40.000 align:middle line:84%
Hume and Smith, two men who
were like peas in a pod

00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.000 align:middle line:84%
intellectually, both had
the ambition to try and develop

00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:50.000 align:middle line:84%
a philosophy, a science
even that would explain

00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:52.000 align:middle line:84%
the principles of human
behaviour, explain

00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:55.000 align:middle line:84%
the principles of social
organization and historical

00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:00.000 align:middle line:84%
change without any reference
whatsoever to religion.

00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:07.000 align:middle line:90%
-In the beginning...

00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:13.000 align:middle line:84%
there was empty space.
And in this empty space,

00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:19.000 align:middle line:84%
there emerged a primordial fire
ball. Billions of years ago,

00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:22.000 align:middle line:90%
this fireball exploded.

00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:33.000 align:middle line:84%
-Adam Smith, like other
philosophers of his time was

00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:37.000 align:middle line:84%
searching for laws that could
explain human development,

00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:41.000 align:middle line:84%
a science of man. They were
looking to nature as a source

00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:45.000 align:middle line:90%
of social order.

00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:50.000 align:middle line:84%
-Science was a belief
system of the time.

00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:59.000 align:middle line:84%
As God and theological
hierarchies begin to break down,

00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:04.000 align:middle line:84%
one of the things that begins
to emerge is an idea that if

00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.000 align:middle line:84%
we can no longer look at
the universe as God\'s creation,

00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:12.000 align:middle line:84%
we need to start looking
at the universe as a creation

00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:18.000 align:middle line:84%
which has some kind
of absolutist logic to it.

00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:25.000 align:middle line:84%
Carl Linnaeus, who was
a botanist, decides that he\'s

00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:30.000 align:middle line:84%
going to take the entire natural
world and define it as a system

00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.000 align:middle line:84%
that is completely integrated
and that is hierarchical.

00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:37.000 align:middle line:84%
And so he starts working on
this project called the Systema

00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:41.000 align:middle line:90%
Naturae, the System of Nature.

00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:49.000 align:middle line:84%
That\'s an attempt to take
the natural world and to make

00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:55.000 align:middle line:84%
it a logical model. His model is
based on the monarchy.

00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:59.000 align:middle line:84%
So he creates the animal
kingdom, the plant kingdom,

00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:03.000 align:middle line:84%
and he originally planned
on doing the mineral kingdom.

00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:10.000 align:middle line:84%
What he\'s doing is taking
the social structure

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.000 align:middle line:84%
of his time and turning it
into a natural hierarchy.

00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:16.000 align:middle line:84%
In other words, the hierarchy is
not something that has been

00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:20.000 align:middle line:84%
created by the sword, but
rather hierarchy and inequality

00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.000 align:middle line:84%
is something that has
been created by nature.

00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:34.000 align:middle line:84%
By the 18th century,
which is Adam Smith,

00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:40.000 align:middle line:84%
in many ways it is already
this idea that reason

00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:50.000 align:middle line:84%
and science and structure are
things that are the architecture

00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.000 align:middle line:90%
of truth.

00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:59.000 align:middle line:84%
-In 1763, almost 30 years after
the publication of \"Systema

00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:03.000 align:middle line:84%
Naturae\", Adam Smith arrives
in Paris. He\'s on a quest

00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:07.000 align:middle line:84%
to find the natural order
of the economy, the basis for

00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:10.000 align:middle line:90%
his \"Wealth of Nations\".

00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:16.000 align:middle line:84%
-In Paris, he moves instantly to
the circle of the physiocrats,

00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:21.000 align:middle line:84%
the \"économistes\", and
to François Quesnay who

00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:23.000 align:middle line:90%
is the leader.

00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.000 align:middle line:84%
-Classical economics was
founded by two doctors.

00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:40.000 align:middle line:84%
William Petty, a surgeon
in Ireland and François Quesnay

00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:45.000 align:middle line:84%
in France, founded physiocracy.
And their concept of circular

00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:48.000 align:middle line:84%
flow between producers
and consumers was inspired

00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:49.000 align:middle line:84%
by their view
of the bloodstream.

00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:52.000 align:middle line:84%
They said, just as in the human
body, there\'s a circular flow

00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:56.000 align:middle line:84%
of blood to the organs,
so the economy is very much

00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:59.000 align:middle line:84%
like a human body,
and it circulates blood

00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:02.000 align:middle line:84%
from the producers
to the consumers.

00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:18.000 align:middle line:78%
-According to Smith, faith
in the natural order of the
free

00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:22.000 align:middle line:84%
market could be observed here,
in one of the more remote

00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.000 align:middle line:90%
regions on earth.

00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:33.000 align:middle line:84%
-What we can see in Smith\'s
work is an exercise in putting

00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:40.000 align:middle line:84%
together an absolutely
enormous science of man.

00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:48.000 align:middle line:84%
-He claimed that the origin
of the economy is rooted

00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:53.000 align:middle line:84%
in the natural human capacity
for trading and bartering.

00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:00.000 align:middle line:84%
In evidence, he offered
the \"savage tribes\",

00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.000 align:middle line:84%
as he called them
of the Americas.

00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:17.000 align:middle line:84%
-Adam Smith was the first
person to really lay it out

00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:20.000 align:middle line:90%
elaborately and explicitly.

00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:26.000 align:middle line:84%
Once upon a time, when there was
no money, people would have

00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:29.000 align:middle line:84%
to swap things directly. I would
say: \"Tell you what, I\'ll give

00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:34.000 align:middle line:84%
you 20 chickens for that cow...
alright, maybe 25 chickens.\"

00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:42.000 align:middle line:84%
♪ When we lived in caves,
there were no shopping malls ♪

00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:45.000 align:middle line:84%
♪ people\'s manners were
Neanderthal. I\'ll give you ♪

00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.000 align:middle line:84%
♪ this for that, that for this,
we\'ll make a trade called ♪

00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:53.000 align:middle line:84%
♪ barter. I\'ll give you this
for that, that for this, ♪

00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:56.000 align:middle line:84%
♪ we\'ll have it made
with barter! ♪

00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:59.000 align:middle line:84%
-People would negotiate
and come to a deal. That\'s how

00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:03.000 align:middle line:84%
the economy worked. Gradually
that becomes inconvenient,

00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:05.000 align:middle line:84%
maybe you don\'t want my chickens
and I don\'t have anything else

00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:07.000 align:middle line:84%
you want. So we settle on one
thing that everybody\'s going

00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:11.000 align:middle line:90%
to want, that becomes money.

00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:17.000 align:middle line:84%
-It was a radical idea.
For the first time, economic

00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:21.000 align:middle line:84%
activity was stripped of
its complex social context,

00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:24.000 align:middle line:84%
psychology, cultural norms,
religion and community,

00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:29.000 align:middle line:84%
and studied in isolation
as if in a laboratory.

00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:33.000 align:middle line:84%
-It makes perfect intuitive
sense, the problem is that

00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:35.000 align:middle line:90%
it isn\'t true.

00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.000 align:middle line:84%
No one\'s ever been able to find
any place where that\'s the way

00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:41.000 align:middle line:84%
ordinary transactions take
place. And if you think about

00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:45.000 align:middle line:84%
it, it\'s kind of obvious
why they wouldn\'t, because

00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:48.000 align:middle line:84%
it assumes that even
in a Neolithic village,

00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.000 align:middle line:84%
everybody is going to be dealing
with each other on what

00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:52.000 align:middle line:84%
economists call
the \"spot trade\".

00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:56.000 align:middle line:84%
I give you something, you give
me something, we walk away.

00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:12.000 align:middle line:84%
-Adam Smith\'s idea of bartering
trade could have easily been

00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:15.000 align:middle line:84%
demonstrated by the way these
hunters in this isolated

00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:18.000 align:middle line:84%
community barter
and trade their hunt.

00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:26.000 align:middle line:84%
The problem however
is that they don\'t

00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:29.000 align:middle line:90%
and they never have.

00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:03.000 align:middle line:72%
Anthropologists call this
system
of communal sharing
reciprocity.

00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:08.000 align:middle line:84%
For the Maijunas, as for most
indigenous tribes, it is

00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:12.000 align:middle line:84%
a thing of the past. Today,
no one in the village will eat

00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:16.000 align:middle line:84%
these majas, they will be taken
nto market a few hours boat ride

00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:20.000 align:middle line:90%
away and sold.

00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:18.000 align:middle line:84%
-Adam Smith, you can\'t really
blame him, he did not really

00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:22.000 align:middle line:84%
have the evidence. But since
then, economists have been told

00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:24.000 align:middle line:84%
over and over again
by anthropologists that no,

00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:27.000 align:middle line:90%
people don\'t actually do this.

00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:30.000 align:middle line:84%
We have been looking
for a society like that

00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:33.000 align:middle line:84%
for 200 years and they don\'t
exist. Yet they still feel

00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:36.000 align:middle line:84%
obliged to tell the same story.
So clearly this story is

00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:41.000 align:middle line:84%
doing something for them which
has nothing to do with history

00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:43.000 align:middle line:90%
or empirical reality.

00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:46.000 align:middle line:84%
-The Maijunas did not evolve
from bartering and trading

00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:50.000 align:middle line:78%
into a market economy, no
matter
what 18th century theory would

00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.000 align:middle line:84%
have us believe. Rather,
colonization and the market

00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:58.000 align:middle line:84%
system trapped them down
in the 19th century once

00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:00.000 align:middle line:90%
nrubber was found in the Amazon.

00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:15.000 align:middle line:84%
Many Maijunas and other tribes
people were enslaved and

00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:17.000 align:middle line:84%
murdered during the rubber
boom that followed.

00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:23.000 align:middle line:78%
Only a few fading photographs
remain and the collective
tribal

00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:27.000 align:middle line:84%
memory of their transformation
into day labourers.

00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:55.000 align:middle line:84%
So, if Adam Smith\'s science
of man cannot explain

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:57.000 align:middle line:84%
the building blocks
of a market economy,

00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:01.000 align:middle line:84%
how did the market
evolve historically?

00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:30.000 align:middle line:84%
So capitalism was not
the product of ideas, but

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:33.000 align:middle line:84%
of historical processes that
transformed the Maijunas,

00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:37.000 align:middle line:84%
and indeed all of us
into Homo Economicus.

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:45.000 align:middle line:84%
These sweeping historical
changes were unleashed

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:48.000 align:middle line:90%
by a single, key event.

00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:21.000 align:middle line:84%
-So the discovery of the
Americas was a formative event

00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:26.000 align:middle line:84%
for the scientific revolution,
but what was its connection

00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:29.000 align:middle line:90%
nto the evolution of capitalism?

00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:34.000 align:middle line:84%
The interesting thing is that
our entire arguments about

00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:36.000 align:middle line:84%
world history, I think, are
on a false basis. We argue

00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:39.000 align:middle line:84%
why is it that Europe was in
a position to conquer the world

00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:42.000 align:middle line:90%
and not anybody else?

00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.000 align:middle line:84%
Well maybe that is not the right
question. I mean, it\'s very

00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:47.000 align:middle line:84%
clear that in many periods of
time, China for example, could

00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:51.000 align:middle line:84%
have easily done what
the Conquistadors did.

00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:09.000 align:middle line:84%
-But it just never occurred
to them to depopulate entire

00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:12.000 align:middle line:84%
continents to be able
to accumulate masses

00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:15.000 align:middle line:84%
of gold and silver. It would
have seemed completely psychotic

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:17.000 align:middle line:84%
to most people on earth. So it\'s
not that everybody wants to rule

00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:21.000 align:middle line:84%
the world, the question is why
did Europe actually end up

00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:23.000 align:middle line:90%
doing it?

00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:29.000 align:middle line:84%
I think the answer lies in
this peculiar relationship

00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:32.000 align:middle line:84%
between lenders and
entrepreneurs as they call them.

00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:35.000 align:middle line:84%
If you think of the
Conquistadors as the archetypal

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:37.000 align:middle line:84%
entrepreneur who would risk
more and more, who is always

00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:42.000 align:middle line:84%
creating something out of
nothing in order to make more

00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:44.000 align:middle line:90%
and more money.

00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:49.000 align:middle line:84%
-So, while Chinese voyages
of discovery were decreed

00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:52.000 align:middle line:84%
by an emperor, Western
discoveries began as private

00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:58.000 align:middle line:84%
initiatives, unleashing a
completely different process.

00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:16.000 align:middle line:84%
The conquest of Mexico in 1519
by Cortes is an example

00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:20.000 align:middle line:84%
of this new link, created
nbetween geographic discoveries,

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.000 align:middle line:90%
colonization and money.

00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:34.000 align:middle line:84%
-The fascinating thing I
discovered when I started

00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:38.000 align:middle line:84%
looking at the actual histories
of the Conquistadors is that

00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:41.000 align:middle line:84%
every single one of them was
in debt. Cortes basically

00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:43.000 align:middle line:84%
got himself deeper and deeper
into debt. He\'s a gambler,

00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:45.000 align:middle line:84%
he said to hell with it,
I\'m never going to get out

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:47.000 align:middle line:84%
of debt, I\'m going to borrow
even more money and just gamble

00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:50.000 align:middle line:84%
everything on this crazy
expedition.

00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:12.000 align:middle line:84%
-When asked by the envoy
of Montezuma, the Maxica King,

00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:17.000 align:middle line:84%
about his obsession with gold,
Cortes replied: \"My companions

00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:19.000 align:middle line:84%
and I are suffering from
a disease of the heart

00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:24.000 align:middle line:84%
for which there is
no cure, but gold.\"

00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:36.000 align:middle line:84%
-As soon as he actually
conquered Tenochtitlan,

00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:39.000 align:middle line:84%
which took a very long time,
when he divided up the spoils,

00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:42.000 align:middle line:84%
he\'d arrange things in such a
way that none of his soldiers

00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:45.000 align:middle line:84%
actually got any of the money.
They ended up in debt because

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:47.000 align:middle line:84%
he charged them for the cost
of medical care. He charged them

00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:49.000 align:middle line:84%
the replacement of weapons.
He charged them for everything.

00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:52.000 align:middle line:84%
They were all in debt, they were
up in arms and were going

00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:54.000 align:middle line:90%
to kill him.

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:57.000 align:middle line:84%
He finally said, look ok, I tell
you what, I\'m not going to let

00:27:57.000 --> 00:27:59.000 align:middle line:84%
you off the hook, I\'ll give you
a ten-year moratorium. Go off

00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:02.000 align:middle line:84%
to the provinces and govern
those. So they became these

00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:07.000 align:middle line:84%
incredibly rapacious governors
who just extracted as much

00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:09.000 align:middle line:90%
money as possible.

00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:19.000 align:middle line:84%
I think that sense of outrage,
of shame, humiliation,

00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:23.000 align:middle line:84%
indignation, like we just fought
for an entire year and somehow

00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:25.000 align:middle line:84%
survived one of the greatest
battles in world history,

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:28.000 align:middle line:84%
and they\'re still not paying me
anything? They say I owe them?

00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:34.000 align:middle line:84%
This is crazy. And that sense
of outrage and unlimited power

00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:38.000 align:middle line:84%
combined, turns
them into monsters.

00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:43.000 align:middle line:84%
-William Shakespeare in
\"The Merchant of Venice\",

00:28:43.000 --> 00:28:47.000 align:middle line:84%
tried to humanize such lenders
and the passions inflamed

00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:49.000 align:middle line:90%
by money.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:56.000 align:middle line:84%
-He has disgraced me and
hindered me half a million,

00:28:56.000 --> 00:29:05.000 align:middle line:84%
laughed at my losses, mocked at
my gains, scorned my nation.

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:08.000 align:middle line:84%
-You never actually see the guys
that Cortes or people like that

00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:11.000 align:middle line:84%
owe money to, you do not
really know who they were,

00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:13.000 align:middle line:84%
but that relationship between
the financiers who are expecting

00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:17.000 align:middle line:84%
their 5% or whatever it is,
7% a year interest,

00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:24.000 align:middle line:84%
and the entrepreneur as it were,
the warrior who goes out there

00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:28.000 align:middle line:84%
and conquers worlds,
that relationship becomes

00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:33.000 align:middle line:84%
the very basis of our modern
economic monetary system

00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:36.000 align:middle line:84%
even though we no longer
think of it that way.

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:27.000 align:middle line:84%
-The Spanish Conquistadors,
with their voracious appetite

00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:33.000 align:middle line:84%
for precious metals, found
here a mountain of silver.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:45.000 align:middle line:84%
They called it Cerro Rico,
the Rich Mountain.

00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:50.000 align:middle line:84%
Over the three centuries
that followed, more than

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.000 align:middle line:84%
62 metric tons of silver was
extracted from Cerro Rico,

00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:58.000 align:middle line:90%
at great human cost.

00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:03.000 align:middle line:84%
-That is not a good quality of
silver, not like in the colonial

00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:05.000 align:middle line:90%
times.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:07.000 align:middle line:84%
-It was this silver that
triggered an explosion

00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:10.000 align:middle line:90%
in international trade.

00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:20.000 align:middle line:84%
In China, the Latin American
silver fuelled a dramatic

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:23.000 align:middle line:84%
expansion of
the commercial market.

00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:43.000 align:middle line:84%
-Many people now still think
that China was isolated from

00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:48.000 align:middle line:84%
the world before the 19th
century, it\'s a world on its

00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:51.000 align:middle line:84%
own, it\'s not
interacting and trading.

00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:58.000 align:middle line:84%
In fact now, it is quite clear
that the European \"great

00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:02.000 align:middle line:84%
discoveries\" of the Americas
and things like that actually

00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:06.000 align:middle line:84%
had a really very important
impact on China.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:13.000 align:middle line:84%
Before the 16th century,
the Chinese economy was based

00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:16.000 align:middle line:84%
on paper currency, that is
the government prints some

00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:19.000 align:middle line:84%
paper for people to use
in transactions. It is very

00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:23.000 align:middle line:84%
unstable because the value
of the currency is not based

00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:26.000 align:middle line:84%
on any precious metal.
So the commercial economy was

00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:29.000 align:middle line:84%
not very advanced until China,
the Chinese government,

00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:35.000 align:middle line:84%
as an attempt to fight inflation
and these economic disabilities,

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.000 align:middle line:84%
shifts to a silver-based
economy.

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:48.000 align:middle line:84%
China at that time found a very
reliable, stable and large

00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:52.000 align:middle line:84%
source of silver. So the whole
economy was silverized,

00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:55.000 align:middle line:84%
meaning that silver became
the standard currency for

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:58.000 align:middle line:84%
commercial transactions.
So it laid the foundation

00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:02.000 align:middle line:84%
for a rapid
commercial expansion.

00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:54.000 align:middle line:84%
-The market that evolved,
made of small producers

00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:57.000 align:middle line:84%
who interacted freely, without
the need of an entrepreneur

00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:00.000 align:middle line:84%
or capitalist attracted
the attention of European

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:03.000 align:middle line:90%
travelers and missionaries.

00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:15.000 align:middle line:84%
Their stories impressed French
philosophers and physiocrats

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:18.000 align:middle line:90%
and Adam Smith.

00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:30.000 align:middle line:84%
But in Britain, the global
market fuelled by silver

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.000 align:middle line:84%
from the Americas had
a completely different impact.

00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:39.000 align:middle line:84%
While in China it encouraged
small producers, here,

00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:42.000 align:middle line:90%
it destroyed them.

00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:54.000 align:middle line:84%
Simon Fairlie is an advocate
for independent small farmers,

00:34:54.000 --> 00:35:00.000 align:middle line:84%
which have become a rather rare
breed since the 16th century.

00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:04.000 align:middle line:84%
-If you\'re really good,
you can make a minimum wage out

00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:09.000 align:middle line:84%
of four cows, four dairy
cows, not intensively fed,

00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:13.000 align:middle line:84%
and that would require about
10 acres, something like that.

00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:16.000 align:middle line:84%
I\'ve got two cows and
in order to do it full time,

00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:22.000 align:middle line:84%
you\'d need four,
and you\'d have to be good.

00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:27.000 align:middle line:84%
-How independent farmers
have been squeezed like that?

00:35:27.000 --> 00:35:28.000 align:middle line:90%
This is like a 400 year process.

00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:36.000 align:middle line:84%
-Yes, it\'s about that!
Well, it dates back from

00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:40.000 align:middle line:84%
the 16th century onwards when
small farmers were pushed off

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.000 align:middle line:84%
land so that the larger
land owners could monopolize

00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:47.000 align:middle line:84%
their land and improve
it to make it more productive,

00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:52.000 align:middle line:84%
which they did. But they threw
the bulk of people off the land

00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:56.000 align:middle line:84%
in the process. It didn\'t
have to happen that way.

00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:01.000 align:middle line:84%
-The silver that flooded
countries like Spain created

00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:04.000 align:middle line:84%
a growing demand for English
wool, which made raising sheep

00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:08.000 align:middle line:84%
more profitable. Peasants were
displaced to make room

00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:13.000 align:middle line:84%
for more sheep. The process
was called \"enclosure\".

00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:55.000 align:middle line:84%
-It was coercive. I would not
say it was massively violent.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:58.000 align:middle line:84%
There was just a lot of rioting
and a lot of resistance.

00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:02.000 align:middle line:84%
And a lot of poverty
and people shoved into urban

00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:07.000 align:middle line:84%
situations, which had a very
high death rate. So in a sense,

00:37:07.000 --> 00:37:10.000 align:middle line:84%
it was violent in so far as
the death rate in the emerging

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:16.000 align:middle line:84%
new industrial towns was higher
that it was in the countryside.

00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:29.000 align:middle line:78%
-\"They throw down houses\",
wrote
Thomas More. \"They pluck down

00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:32.000 align:middle line:84%
towns and leave nothing
standing, but only churches

00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:36.000 align:middle line:90%
to be made into sheep houses.\"

00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:10.000 align:middle line:84%
-This army of dispossessed,
homeless and jobless peasants

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.000 align:middle line:84%
have become a potential
labour force helping to create

00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:18.000 align:middle line:90%
a labour market.

00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:22.000 align:middle line:84%
-How do you create a market?
That\'s very interesting.

00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:28.000 align:middle line:84%
How you create a market that\'s
disembodied from society?

00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:34.000 align:middle line:84%
You can pass all kinds of laws,
which happened in England

00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:41.000 align:middle line:84%
between 1650 and about the early
19th century that criminalized

00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:43.000 align:middle line:90%
poverty.

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:48.000 align:middle line:84%
You can make it a capital
offence for the stealing

00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:51.000 align:middle line:90%
of a handkerchief.

00:38:53.000 --> 00:38:56.000 align:middle line:90%
Children can be executed.

00:38:56.000 --> 00:39:01.000 align:middle line:84%
You can imprison people
because they can no longer pay

00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:03.000 align:middle line:90%
their debts.

00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:07.000 align:middle line:84%
So, the amount of terroristic
type of laws that are being

00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:13.000 align:middle line:84%
passed to criminalize poverty,
to increase debt, to create

00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:19.000 align:middle line:84%
human beings that can be bought
and sold, that helps bring

00:39:19.000 --> 00:39:24.000 align:middle line:84%
about a particular
kind of market.

00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:29.000 align:middle line:90%
-Come on, off you go! Come on.

00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:33.000 align:middle line:90%
Come on. Come on.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.000 align:middle line:84%
The people who were thrown off
the land lost their connection

00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:42.000 align:middle line:84%
with the land. If you have
access to land, you have a

00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:46.000 align:middle line:84%
certain measure of independence.
You are your own boss and you\'re

00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:51.000 align:middle line:84%
not really beholden to anybody.
Whereas once you are alienated

00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:56.000 align:middle line:84%
from the land, you are in
a much more insecure situation.

00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:04.000 align:middle line:84%
And you\'re less able to contest
the forces of the economy.

00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:11.000 align:middle line:84%
-4, 3, 2, 1!
(screams)

00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:15.000 align:middle line:84%
-What you\'ve got now is
a situation where, in order

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:18.000 align:middle line:84%
to keep the wheels of capitalism
turning, you have to persuade

00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:21.000 align:middle line:84%
people to consume, which was
kind of one of the problems

00:40:21.000 --> 00:40:24.000 align:middle line:84%
with people living on their
own land or on common land

00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:28.000 align:middle line:84%
or whatever it was, so they were
not that wild about going out

00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:32.000 align:middle line:84%
and consuming. You don\'t need
to buy very much if you actually

00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:35.000 align:middle line:84%
live in a place like this.
There\'s just loads to do

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:41.000 align:middle line:84%
and keep yourself amused and eat
and so forth at your disposal.

00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:48.000 align:middle line:78%
-So the trail of silver and
gold
that began in the New World,

00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:52.000 align:middle line:84%
helped to stimulate a global
market that eventually

00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:55.000 align:middle line:90%
transformed British society.

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:58.000 align:middle line:84%
Around the world, private
entrepreneurs were using

00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:02.000 align:middle line:84%
the newly founds riches
to build empires.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.000 align:middle line:84%
-Smith is fascinated, as he has
to be, by the mushroom spread

00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:11.000 align:middle line:90%
of Empire.

00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:16.000 align:middle line:84%
After all, every country
in Europe is founding colonies

00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:18.000 align:middle line:90%
in the underdeveloped world.

00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:26.000 align:middle line:84%
And how those colonies being
developed? They are being

00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:31.000 align:middle line:84%
developed actually as we would
say by the private sector.

00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:36.000 align:middle line:84%
Great trading companies,
what are they doing?

00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:39.000 align:middle line:84%
They are moving with permission
of government into different

00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:44.000 align:middle line:84%
parts of the world and these
trading companies are becoming

00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:46.000 align:middle line:90%
governments.

00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:56.000 align:middle line:84%
-We are standing on the banks
of the river Clyde and in front

00:41:56.000 --> 00:42:02.000 align:middle line:84%
of you, at the moment, you can
see a tall tower with a blue

00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:04.000 align:middle line:90%
clock on it.

00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:08.000 align:middle line:84%
Wealthy merchants way back
in the 18th century stood

00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:14.000 align:middle line:84%
on that tower looking down
the river to see their ships

00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:18.000 align:middle line:84%
coming in. And these wealthy
merchants had a sort

00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:23.000 align:middle line:84%
of triangular trading route.
They took goods from here

00:42:23.000 --> 00:42:29.000 align:middle line:84%
in Scotland to the Gold Coast
in Africa. The goods they took

00:42:29.000 --> 00:42:35.000 align:middle line:84%
from Africa to
the West Indies were people.

00:42:42.000 --> 00:42:46.000 align:middle line:78%
-Ships from Europe brought
goods
to Africa then took slaves

00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:51.000 align:middle line:84%
to the New World and brought
raw materials back to Europe.

00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:55.000 align:middle line:84%
It was called a triangular
trade and was mainly a private

00:42:55.000 --> 00:43:01.000 align:middle line:72%
enterprise, which contributed
to
the emergence of market
economy.

00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:06.000 align:middle line:84%
-The workings of commerce
and Empire in the 18th century,

00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:11.000 align:middle line:84%
right the way through Europe
is increasingly dependent

00:43:11.000 --> 00:43:13.000 align:middle line:90%
on Black slavery.

00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:17.000 align:middle line:84%
Smith knows this very well.
He, after all, was a close

00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:19.000 align:middle line:84%
student of the workings
of the Scottish economy

00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:27.000 align:middle line:84%
of his own day. But he chose
to turn a blind eye on slavery.

00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:08.000 align:middle line:84%
-By the 1500\'s the transatlantic
slave trade was well under way,

00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:11.000 align:middle line:84%
spearheaded by the Portuguese.
And when they came, they put

00:44:11.000 --> 00:44:15.000 align:middle line:84%
up these castles along
the coast and I want to remind

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.000 align:middle line:84%
you that these were not referred
to as castles, they called them

00:44:19.000 --> 00:44:22.000 align:middle line:84%
\"barracoons\" or factories.
Factories that were meant

00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:26.000 align:middle line:84%
to produce slaves
for the plantations.

00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:33.000 align:middle line:84%
You see this? That\'s
the national emblem of Ghana.

00:44:33.000 --> 00:44:37.000 align:middle line:84%
It\'s taken from the crusaders.
At the top right corner of it,

00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:41.000 align:middle line:84%
there is an edifice of a castle
to show the roles these castles

00:44:41.000 --> 00:44:44.000 align:middle line:84%
have played in the social,
economical, political

00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:47.000 align:middle line:90%
development of Ghana.

00:44:57.000 --> 00:44:59.000 align:middle line:84%
This was the male dungeon.
There were no lights,

00:44:59.000 --> 00:45:03.000 align:middle line:84%
so the hole up there provided
them with light and ventilation.

00:45:03.000 --> 00:45:07.000 align:middle line:84%
They stayed here for
about 3 months on average.

00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:09.000 align:middle line:84%
While they were here,
they urinated, they defecated,

00:45:09.000 --> 00:45:12.000 align:middle line:84%
they vomited, they ate
and they slept here.

00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:17.000 align:middle line:84%
This was the drainage
for the feces and the urine.

00:45:17.000 --> 00:45:21.000 align:middle line:84%
When it rained, water came
in to wash the floor.

00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:25.000 align:middle line:84%
But the whole place got covered
with filth and many of them got

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:27.000 align:middle line:90%
sick and died here.

00:46:09.000 --> 00:46:14.000 align:middle line:84%
-Liverpool became the leading
slave-trading port in Britain.

00:46:14.000 --> 00:46:18.000 align:middle line:84%
London and Bristol kind of
dallied with slavery beforehand,

00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:21.000 align:middle line:84%
but you get to the 1750\'s
and Liverpool really took it

00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:24.000 align:middle line:90%
to another level.

00:46:29.000 --> 00:46:31.000 align:middle line:84%
You are not talking about
a 50 or 75 year period.

00:46:31.000 --> 00:46:35.000 align:middle line:84%
These were generations
of individuals, of families

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:41.000 align:middle line:84%
that made their entire kind
of fortunes on the enslavement

00:46:41.000 --> 00:46:43.000 align:middle line:90%
of individuals.

00:46:49.000 --> 00:46:51.000 align:middle line:84%
Thomas Golighty was one
of the mayors of Liverpool.

00:46:51.000 --> 00:46:55.000 align:middle line:84%
He was also one of the traders
in Liverpool who traded

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:58.000 align:middle line:84%
in Africa. Now, he was
a very important man, he was

00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:01.000 align:middle line:84%
the treasurer for a number
of societies. And what it shows

00:47:01.000 --> 00:47:04.000 align:middle line:84%
is how influential
individuals in this city were.

00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:07.000 align:middle line:84%
Who were involved
in the transatlantic

00:47:07.000 --> 00:47:09.000 align:middle line:90%
slave trade.

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:05.000 align:middle line:84%
-400 years of slavery.
Capitalism, deadly.

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:08.000 align:middle line:84%
Everybody wants
their share.

00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:20.000 align:middle line:84%
-It is often said that Smith was
insensitive to social movements

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.000 align:middle line:90%
and social change of his time.

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.000 align:middle line:84%
Perhaps the elephant
in \"The Wealth of Nations\'\"

00:48:29.000 --> 00:48:32.000 align:middle line:90%
room is slavery.

00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:39.000 align:middle line:78%
-Certain economists and
historians would have us
believe

00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:43.000 align:middle line:84%
that what we call free market
capitalism was envisioned

00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:46.000 align:middle line:84%
by Adam Smith and his book
\"The Wealth of Nations\",

00:48:46.000 --> 00:48:50.000 align:middle line:84%
and came to life with
the Industrial Revolution.

00:48:54.000 --> 00:48:57.000 align:middle line:84%
But the origins of our present
day economic system can be found

00:48:57.000 --> 00:49:02.000 align:middle line:84%
more than 7000 kilometers across
the Atlantic and 200 years

00:49:02.000 --> 00:49:06.000 align:middle line:84%
before the publication
of Smith\'s book.

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.000 align:middle line:84%
-The plantations of
the New World were the first

00:49:29.000 --> 00:49:36.000 align:middle line:84%
productive activity,
which Europe located

00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:38.000 align:middle line:90%
in these non-European regions.

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.000 align:middle line:84%
Prior to that, they either
looted or they traded

00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:48.000 align:middle line:84%
and they looted and they traded,
and they occupied

00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:51.000 align:middle line:90%
and they settled.

00:49:54.000 --> 00:49:58.000 align:middle line:84%
Some of these plantations were
very large, far exceeding

00:49:58.000 --> 00:50:03.000 align:middle line:84%
any factory
at the time in Europe.

00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:12.000 align:middle line:84%
It had all the characteristics,
I would maintain, of capitalism,

00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:17.000 align:middle line:84%
with the sole exception that
the labour was not wage labour

00:50:17.000 --> 00:50:24.000 align:middle line:84%
but unfree slave labour. But in
any other way it was capitalist

00:50:24.000 --> 00:50:29.000 align:middle line:84%
to the exclusion of any other
consideration. It was only

00:50:29.000 --> 00:50:31.000 align:middle line:90%
about profit.

00:50:36.000 --> 00:50:39.000 align:middle line:84%
-For Smithians in general,
they have a hard time relating

00:50:39.000 --> 00:50:44.000 align:middle line:84%
extra economic coercion like
slavery with sort of normal

00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:48.000 align:middle line:84%
economic transactions.
And therefore things like

00:50:48.000 --> 00:50:52.000 align:middle line:84%
slavery they associate it with
some kind of barbaric, primitive

00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:56.000 align:middle line:84%
pre-developed, under-developed
society, which cannot possibly

00:50:56.000 --> 00:51:04.000 align:middle line:84%
be related to a modern
developed economy.

00:51:08.000 --> 00:51:10.000 align:middle line:84%
But a strong case can be made
that capitalism actually

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.000 align:middle line:84%
started in the 16th century
with the colonization

00:51:14.000 --> 00:51:18.000 align:middle line:84%
of the Caribbean
and Latin America.

00:51:59.000 --> 00:52:02.000 align:middle line:84%
-But if indeed the birth
of capitalism has nothing to do

00:52:02.000 --> 00:52:06.000 align:middle line:84%
with Adam Smith, why has his
book \"The Wealth of Nations\"

00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:10.000 align:middle line:84%
become such an influential
work? And why is his view

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:15.000 align:middle line:84%
of the economy as science
so widely held?