Credit is the economic manifestation of trust
The cycle was eventually broken in the modern age thanks to people's growing trust in the future, and the resulting miracle of credit. Credit is the economic manifestation of trust. Today, if I want to develop a new drug but I don't have enough money, I can get a loan from the bank, or turn to private investors and venture capital funds. When Ebola erupted in West Africa in the summer of 2014, what do you think happened to the shares of pharmaceutical companies that were busy developing anti-Ebola drugs and vaccines? They skyrocketed. Tekmira shares rose by 50 per cent and BioCryst shares by 90 per cent. In the Middle Ages, the outbreak of a plague caused people to raise their eyes towards heaven, and pray to God to forgive them for their sins. Today, when people hear of some new deadly epidemic, they pick up the phone and call their broker. For the stock exchange, even an epidemic is a business opportunity.
If enough new ventures succeed, people's trust in the future increases, credit expands, interest rates fall, entrepreneurs can raise money more easily and the economy grows. People consequently have even greater trust in the future, the economy keeps growing and science progresses with it.
windsandstar对本书的所有笔记 · · · · · ·
-
humankind has used its growing power to somehow sneak meaning back into the cosmos
The next chapter will examine how humankind has used its growing power to somehow sneak...
-
credit was little because people had no belief in growth, stagnation thereby perpetuated itself
The modern pursuit of power is fuelled by the alliance between scientific progress and ...
-
Credit is the economic manifestation of trust
-
faith in future contradicts our gut feelings, evolutionary heritage and the way the world works
It sounds simple on paper. Why, then, did humankind have to wait until the modern era f...
-
The credo of ‘more stuff' urges society to discount anything that might hamper economic growth
The credo of ‘more stuff' accordingly urges individuals, firms and governments to disc...
说明 · · · · · ·
表示其中内容是对原文的摘抄