One of my great frustrations (and there are many) is that the conventional wisdom about economic history oftentimes is wrong. It is very common for students to learn things that simply are not true.
- The history books usually promote the myth that capitalism caused the Great Depression and that FDR’s policies saved the economy.
- The history books usually promote the myth that antitrust laws were needed to protect consumers from rapacious “robber barons.”
- The history books usually promote the myth that government intervention was necessary to stop sweatshops from exploiting workers.
Let’s add to that list by looking at the issue of child labor. The conventional wisdom is that child labor was a regular feature of an oppressive capitalist system and that children were eventually saved from abuse thanks to government intervention.
Hardly. Child labor was – and still is, in some places – a way…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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