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@ Flix
2025-05-17 11:08:26
Not an easy answer!
But the industrial revolution was definitely a major factor.
What made the Industrial Revolution possible? Why did it happen when it did and not in the Roman Empire or Song China (both of which had many of the necessary inventions)?
Mises and Hayek would argue that private property rights, capitalism, individual rights, free trade allowed for progress to accumulate and compound over a century or two... and then to spread around the world.
Most of that happened under the British gold standard by the way... so no, not fiat. If anything fiat money during the two world wars slowed progress down. The current fiat regime since 1971 has actually seen stagnation in growth and poverty reduction (with some exceptions China, Eastern Europe).