Cleaned by Capitalism XI

by Don Boudreaux on September 4, 2009

in Cleaned by Capitalism, Complexity and Emergence, Environment, Everyday Life, History, Housing, Standard of Living

Talk about an unsung source of cleanliness and health for us moderns! The noticed-only-when-its-leaking hard roof.

And yet, such roofs were rare until the industrial age. Before then, most persons lived beneath thatched roofs — which might look quaint when you see one pictured on a greeting card, but in reality they were nasty, filthy, and dangerous. Here’s a description from Frances and Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval Village (Harper & Row, 1990), page 34:

Roofs were thatched [in medieval Europe], as from ancient times, with straw, broom or heather, or in marsh country reeds or rushes . . . . Thatched roofs had formidable drawbacks; they rotted from alternations of wet and dry, and harbored a menagerie of mice, rats, hornets, wasps, spiders, and birds; and above all they caught fire. Yet even in London they prevailed.

UPDATE from The Atlantic Blog’s Bill Sjostrom.

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williamsjostrom

Capitalism has also improved the thatched roof. Pubs with thatched roofs are common in Ireland (I am told in Britain as well) because they draw the tourist trade. There are two near my home in East Cork, and they are neither nasty, filthy, or dangerous. Quite nice places, actually.

David

You sound like you've taken a class taught by Robert Fogel. Going over that little factoid is one of his favorite things to do in class.

iamse7en

MURTHA?!

lisafitzhugh

I post your (give you praise and adulation all the time) blog on my facebook at least once a week. Thank you for your good and necessary work.

DonBoudreaux

Cindy -- You've read my mind. The automobile will be my final, capstone post in this series. It has indeed made our lives much cleaner.

Cindy

Sorry, clicked too soon. It should say... before germ theory was fully accepted and hand washing became commonplace. (Something that is still a problem in hospitals today.)

David

You sound like you've taken a class taught by Robert Fogel. Going over that little factoid is one of his favorite things to do in class.

brotio

OMG, I really hope so! The reaction from our resident hypocrite carbon-spewing Ducktor could add ten entries to the list :)

Also, as an aside, Cindy,

You can edit your own comments here and fix those too-soon clicks.

I second Vidyohs. Great post.

vidyohs

Cindy, my dear, I love you and I admire theOtherEric as well.

Great posts, the both of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cindy

Will you be including the car as one of your "cleaned by capitalism" posts? I know that everyone thinks of cars as polluting, but that is only because they did not have to live in the time when horse manure and urine ran in the streets of our cities. I have read that these cesspools of filth teemed with germs that caused illness and death for thousands of people and that the use of the car solved this problem before the discovery of antibiotics or even germ theory.

danielkuehn

That would be great - but I don't think anyone is suggesting that cars are bad so that we should abandon them. They're simply pointing out that there have been unintended polluting consequences to cars. The cleanliness benefits outweigh theses unintended costs - which is why nobody is suggesting we abandon cars. The point is to move forward - not accept the compromise offered by the status quo. Make cleaner cars! I completely agree with you - this would be a great capstone to the series. I just hope you don't think people who raise concerns about cars are really that myopic or negative about cars!!! Too many people ignore the unintended consequences.

The Other Eric

The roof I just put on is Certainteed, a brand that offered mostly recycled, high reflectivity, insulating, carbon-reducing, 30-year roofing for a very fair price. It can handle rain, snow, hail, and even has a great high wind rating. This material, the Hardie board siding and Tyvek wrap, insulation, gypsum board, and pine lumber products all combine to create a home that could not be produced for millions of dollars just 60 years ago. I am building at a time when more of North America is forested than at any time in the last century, during a decade where air quality continues to improve. The electronic technology going into this home, to control lighting, temperature, water, and information access, was the stuff of science fiction a few decades ago.

Sure, there's no helicopter in my garage (damnit!) but we live in a world of stunning wealth and opportunity. As someone in the middle of the US economic income pyramid I can't help but look at each of these 'Cleaned by capitalism' posts and suggest it's not about being clean-- It's about 'Living with capitalism." And it's a good life.

Carl Pham

Gosh, where's the comment asserting that roofs came about only because of government funding and direction?

jcuttance

not to mention other comment about the thousands of thatchers put out of work by thieving capitalists

David

This is a particularly good example. Living under a thatched roof would be horrific after having grown up under shingled roofs.

vikingvista

I have a "lifetime" metal roof. 50 years warranty, no shingles to change. Looks great.

Name

Prof. Boudreaux, have you read Hubbub, by Emily Cockayne? It's subtitled "Filth, Noise, and Stench in England, 1600-1770." You can imagine the rest. I haven't yet started on my copy, but my wife has read a bit of it and she assures me that it's most vile indeed. I'm very grateful that I was born in the late 20th century in an industrialized society.