Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can’t Explain the Modern World is a 2010 book by economist and social theorist Deirdre McCloskey that is the second of a three-book series laying out the thesis that a change in the rhetoric surrounding the value of business, innovation, and entrepreneurship was the main factor responsible for the takeoff of economic growth in Northwest Europe in the late 18th century.

[3][4] McCloskey provides a rough outline for why she thinks that the changes in rhetoric surrounding the dignity of business and markets were crucial, but leaves the elaborate case for later books in the series.

[4] Around the time of the book release, National Review published an interview of McCloskey.

Henry Clark of Clemson University reviewed the book for the Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics.

[10] Diane Coyle wrote a mixed but generally favorable review of the book for the New Statesman.