Description
Book SynopsisFinger-wagging moralizers say the love of money is the root of all evil. They assume that making a lot of money requires exploiting others, and that the best way to wash off the resulting stain is to give a lot of it away.
In Why Itâs OK to Want to Be Rich, Jason Brennan shows that the moralizers have it backwards. He argues that, in general, the more money you make, the more you already do for others, and that even an average wage earner is productively âœgiving backâ to society just by doing her job. In addition, wealth liberates us to have the best chance of leading a life thatâs authentically our own.
Brennan also demonstrates how money-based societies create nicer, more trustworthy, and more cooperative citizens. And in another chapter that takes on the new historians of capitalism, Brennan argues that wealthy nations became wealthy because of their healthy institutions, not from their horrific histories of slavery or colonialism.
While writing that the
Trade Review
"Is it OK to want money? With his trademark blend of philosophical analysis, social scientific data-mining, and norm-busting verbal pyrotechnics, Jason Brennan argues that it’s more than just OK. Wanting to become rich is how we make our world a better place and, along the way, author lives that are genuinely our own."
–John Tomasi, Brown University
"Do you own a BMW? Are you already in business school? If so, then maybe put this book down and instead consider getting into something a bit less comfortable by Marx, Fanon, Foucault, or Elizabeth Anderson. But for the rest of us, Why It’s OK to Want to Be Rich is an exhilarating, illuminating, mildly terrifying ride. Provocative and challenging at every beautifully-handled turn, drawing on a wealth of economics and psychology, this direct little book sets out the moral case for money—making it, spending it, even luxuriating in it, and not feeling bad about it. Many of us raised in the wealthiest, most capitalist, happiest societies in human history have been taught to react to such ideas with a complex mixture of rage and guilt. You might already want to throw this book across the room. Fine, fine. But read it first. You might learn something—about money, about markets, about economics, even about yourself. If nothing else, I know of no better, faster introduction to the moral case for capitalism. It is the kind of book that enriches all of us, even if—and perhaps especially if—we are inclined to disagree with it."
—Alex Guerrero, Rutgers University
"Is it OK to want money? With his trademark blend of philosophical analysis, social scientific data-mining, and norm-busting verbal pyrotechnics, Jason Brennan argues that it’s more than just OK. Wanting to become rich is how we make our world a better place and, along the way, author lives that are genuinely our own."
John Tomasi, Brown University, USA
"Do you own a BMW? Are you already in business school? If so, then maybe put this book down and instead consider getting into something a bit less comfortable by Marx, Fanon, Foucault, or Elizabeth Anderson. But for the rest of us, Why It’s OK to Want to Be Rich is an exhilarating, illuminating, mildly terrifying ride. Provocative and challenging at every beautifully-handled turn, drawing on a wealth of economics and psychology, this direct little book sets out the moral case for money—making it, spending it, even luxuriating in it, and not feeling bad about it. Many of us raised in the wealthiest, most capitalist, happiest societies in human history have been taught to react to such ideas with a complex mixture of rage and guilt. You might already want to throw this book across the room. Fine, fine. But read it first. You might learn something—about money, about markets, about economics, even about yourself. If nothing else, I know of no better, faster introduction to the moral case for capitalism. It is the kind of book that enriches all of us, even if—and perhaps especially if—we are inclined to disagree with it."
Alex Guerrero, Rutgers University, USA
Table of Contents1. The Root of All Evils 2. For the Love of Money 3.Is Money Dirty? Does Money Corrupt? 4. It’s OK to Make Money 5. Rich Country, Poor Country 6. Give it Away Now? 7. Riches, Repugnance, and Remaining Doubts
