Abstract from Gustavo Morles’s (28 Feb. 2010 draft version of) “The Rhetoric of Economics: Why Words are Important”:

By looking at historical evidence McCloskey concludes that the great transformation of the Industrial Revolution was made possible by the change in attitudes, reflected ultimately in the change in rhetoric, towards bourgeois values. This paper explores the importance [...]

Yet in less progressive places the old calumnies against the bourgeoisie continued. In England especially.
To the intense irritation of French and German and Japanese people, England, with Scotland in attendance, has been since about 1700 the very fount of bourgeois values. British merchants, British investors, British inventors, British imperialists, British bankers, British economists [...]

Yes, but was it just a show? Surely the Dutch of the Golden Age didn’t actually carry out their painted and poemed project of the virtues? Surely the bourgeoisie then as now were mere hypocrites, the comically middle class figures in a Molière play; or, worse, of a late-Dickens novel; or, still worse, [...]

The excerpt above is from a post called “Oomph” on Catallaxy Files. It continues with an interpretation:

She argues that in much empirical analysis that people confuse statistical significance with substantive significance. In a play on words, she describes this as being the standard error of empirical analysis. For readers who are not statistically literate the [...]

Dear Reader: This is a rough draft as of January 2010. The three asterisks *** or the bold or NNN (for a name) or DDDD (for a date) and the many pages at the end with “items [perhaps] to be inserted” indicate only some of the numerous things to be done. I [...]

“It’s one of the finest writing books I’ve ever read, a fitting companion to Strunk & White’s Elements of Style and a handful of other beautifully written, easily read, and thoroughly entertaining books about writing.” … [continues; click post title above]

“Sujectis” on Parcere.com wrote:
I had the distinct pleasure of taking a class from Professor McCloskey at the University of Iowa (Western Civilization, I believe), one of those 200+ student undergrad lecture affairs … [continues]

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So the bourgeoisie is always with us. Yet bourgeoisies have usually been precarious. Braudel again chronicled the reluctant triumph of business civilization: “as the years passed, the demands and pressures of everyday life [in Europe in early modern times] became more urgent. . . . So with a bad grace, it allowed change to force the gates. And the experience was not peculiar to the West.” Even during the momentous turn 1300-1776 in Europe there were de-bourgeoisfications. [continues; click title bar above]

The “lovely bit of writing” refers to Deirdre’s recent “Prudence, you no longer rule my world,” Times Higher Education, 14 January 2010.
View original entry of 8 February 2010 at Jim Aune’s site.

A portion of McCloskey’s (June ‘09 draft version of) Bourgeois Dignity is chosen for discussion on the NEP-HIS (New Economic Papers in History) blog. See “Growth, Quality, Happiness, and the Poor.”