In this episode we chat with Johan Fourie about his book “Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom: Lessons from 100,000 Years of Human History”, published by Cambridge University Press. Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom is an entertaining and engaging guide to global economic history told for the first time from an African perspective. In…
Read More
In this episode we chat with Alessio Terzi about his book “Growth for Good: Reshaping Capitalism to Save Humanity from Climate Catastrophe”, published by Harvard University Press. Is economic growth wrecking the planet? Is economic growth the engine driving climate change, pollution, and the shrinking of natural spaces? To save the environment, will we have…
Read More
In this episode we chat with Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin about their book “How the World Became Rich: the historical origins of economic growth”. Most humans are significantly richer than their ancestors. Humanity gained nearly all of its wealth in the last two centuries. How did this come to pass? How did the world…
Read More
In this episode we chat with Oded Galor about his book “The Journey of Humanity: The Origins of Wealth and Inequality”. Oded, in a captivating journey from the dawn of human existence to the present offers an intriguing solution to two of humanity’s great mysteries. A landmark, radically uplifting account of our species’ progress from…
Read More
In this episode we chat with Timur Kuran about his paper “Economic Harbingers of Political Modernization: Peaceful Explosion of Rights in Ottoman Istanbul”. Timur, looking at the Ottoman empire, explores the conditions under which fundamental rights expand without major resistance allowing radical institutional reforms in a peaceful context. Paper link: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3434656 Learn more about Timur:…
Read More
In this episode we chat with Melissa Dell about her paper “The Persistent Effect of Peru’s Mining Mita”. Melissa examines the long-run impacts of the Mita, an extensive forced mining labor system in effect in Peru and Bolivia between 1573 and 1812. She finds that a Mita effect lowers household consumption by around 25% and…
Read More
In this episode we chat with Elias Papaioannou about his paper “Pre-Colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development’”. Elias and his co-author, Stelios Michalopoulos, investigate the role of deeply rooted pre-colonial ethnic institutions in shaping comparative regional development within African countries. They find a strong positive association between pre-colonial political complexity and contemporary development Paper…
Read More
In this episode we chat with Raul Sanchez de la Sierra about his paper “On the Origins of the State: Stationary Bandits and Taxation in Eastern Congo’”. Raul, in his paper, finds that armed actors may create “essential functions of a state” to better expropriate, which, depending on their goals, can increase welfare. Paper link:…
Read More
In this episode we chat with Stelios Michalopoulos about his paper “The long-run effects of the ‘Scramble for Africa’”. Stelios and his co-author, Elias Papaioannou, look into the effect imposed borders had on splitting ethnicities across countries in Africa. They find that colonial border designs have spurred political violence and that ethnic partitioning is systematically…
Read More
In this episode we chat with Paola Giuliano about her paper “On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough”. Paola and her co-authors, Alberto Alesina and Nathan Nunn, study the historical origins of existing cross-cultural differences in beliefs and values regarding the appropriate role of women in society.They test the hypothesis that traditional…
Read More
English