Why Do Elites Permit Reform?

general public. Contrary to common perception, your typical academic economist does not believe that only money matters, and self-interest is not equivalent to selfishness. People are as likely to be altruistic as venal, and in day-to-day life, they are probably more likely to exhibit kindness than viciousness. Yet it is always wise to bear in mind that self-interest, even of the more enlightened sort, must be given consideration in any serious analysis of human behavior. And any economic system is bound to fail were it to rely exclusively on “the kindness of strangers.” Nowhere does cynicism seem more justified and despair more commonplace than when considering the problem of human development throughout history. We often forget how fortunate we are to live in the wealthiest section of the wealthiest era in human history. Indeed, if we abstract away from the last few centuries, we would be justified in feeling that the default state of human civilization is penury. In all but the rarest of cases, total production and consumption were low and only a tiny elite could enjoy access to food, clothing, and transportation that would seem miserly in quantity and/or quality to the vast majority of the citizens of the developed world today. We get some sense of how bad things must have been when we realize that even today, most citizens of the world live on only a few dollars a day, while a substantial minority subsist on less than a dollar a day.