In 1995, a well-respected, economic historian called Donald McCloskey stunned the sedate world of economic history by becoming a well-respected, economic historian called Deirdre McCloskey.
One might assume that the political beliefs of a transsexual academic would incline to the left. But, in fact, McCloskey must count as one of the finest free market advocates anywhere in the world today.
A book review for Prudentia, provides a flavour of McCloskey’s ideas – and, happily for a British Conservative audience, its subject is What Money Can’t Buy by Michael Sandel, the American political philosopher who was the international guest speaker at this year’s Labour Party conference.
McCloskey’s review begins with a statement of common ground:
But given this premise, it is therefore rather unfortunate that Sandel’s moral analysis is so thin:
This is a key point about the contemporary left. Having junked Marx and turned their back on religion, they possess very little in terms of a supporting philosophical framework. To be fair, Ed Miliband is at least aware of his philosophical nakedness, hence his repeated attempts to grab the mantle of One Nation conservatism.
McCloskey readily admits that the economic ideas of the right can also lack a serious moral analysis:
So, Sandel and McCloskey are both agreed that the moral context is of central importance. The difference between them though is this – Sandel, in common with the rest of the contemporary left, fails to provide a proper account of these norms, but instead seemingly assumes them as a natural state of affairs, albeit one that is now threatened by the encroaching, alien presence of market economics:
As McCloskey points out, "in the European Middle Ages one could buy almost anything – wheat and iron, yes, but also husbands, marketplaces, kingdoms, eternal salvation." This was a market of a kind, but nothing to do with the moral market values that underpin the free enterprise of a free society.
Deirdre McCloskey’s great achievement as an economic historian is to provide an account of the emergence and triumph of these values. It is a story than can only be told from the centre-right of politics and we should spend more time telling it.