Capitalism and Liberalism Head Toward Divorce: Adrian Wooldridge

The founders of modern liberalism had no doubts about the positive links between philosophical liberalism and capitalism (or “commercial society” as they would have dubbed it). Adam Smith argued that self-seeking produces “universal opulence.” David Hume noted that merchants “check the power of the ancient nobility” and produce political pluralism. Voltaire described the London Stock Exchange as a temple of toleration and cosmopolitan values.

They were broadly right. The advance of liberalism shadowed the advance of capitalism — first in medieval Venice, then in Renaissance Florence, then in the Dutch Lowlands, then most spectacularly in Britain and America. The building ...