You remember your fourth grade history textbook: The British Empire unfairly taxed the American colonies. Tea was dumped in the Boston Harbor. Colonists refused taxation without representation. Therefore, the American Revolution was driven by economics, right? Well, maybe not.

Today on Political Economy, I’m talking with Deirdre McCloskey about the core ideas that drove the Revolution. We explore American capitalism and the idea of equal opportunity as America grows closer to its 250th birthday.

Deirdre is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. She is also a distinguished professor emerita of economics and history at the University of Illinois at Chicago, as well as a professor emerita of English and communication. She is the author of some two dozen books, including the Bourgeois trilogy, and has a wonderful article, “Economic Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution,” published in AEI’s recent book, Capitalism and the American Revolution, part of our America at 250 series.