Johnson & Wales University economics professor Stewart Dompe generously gives me permission to share this recent e-mail of his to me:
The first [additional example of how capitalism cleanses our immediate environments of pollutants] is food irradiation. Ionizing radiation is used to sanitize fruits, vegetables, and meat. This not only increases shelf life but lessens the chance of infectious pathogens sickening customers. The second example is credit cards. Money is filthy and today with RFID chips, you only need to wave your card near the machine to make your purchase. There is a similar app for your phone at Starbucks where you can punch in the amount, wave the screen in front of a reader and make your purchase. Some small marginal improvements for a cleaner world.
Yep! Our world is indeed made safer, more pleasant, less polluted, and far cleaner by capitalism – or what Deirdre McCloskey calls market-tested innovation.
