Pseudoerasmus
@pseudoerasmus.bsky.social
I bleat about the history of global economic development
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Pseudoerasmus
@pseudoerasmus.bsky.social
· Oct 18
Here is my extremely brief (potted) history of institutions in macro-development thinking -- just before the AJR intervention. I had most of these thoughts prior to the Nobel week, but now they are crystallising.
Many people are sceptical of Mokyr's idealist take on the Industrial Revolution, but even if you are suspicious, The Enlightened Economy is still a tremendous book. I think this review in JEL gives the correct flavour. It says the comprehensiveness is a curse, but the 'curse' teaches you a lot !!!
October 13, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Many people are sceptical of Mokyr's idealist take on the Industrial Revolution, but even if you are suspicious, The Enlightened Economy is still a tremendous book. I think this review in JEL gives the correct flavour. It says the comprehensiveness is a curse, but the 'curse' teaches you a lot !!!
I am by nature a hate-poster. When I hate, I post far more extensively, far more volubly, than when I like, let alone when I love (🪢). Last year I disliked. This year I approve highly. So I won't be clogging up your feeds this year as I did last year ;-)
October 13, 2025 at 2:07 PM
I am by nature a hate-poster. When I hate, I post far more extensively, far more volubly, than when I like, let alone when I love (🪢). Last year I disliked. This year I approve highly. So I won't be clogging up your feeds this year as I did last year ;-)
Reposted by Pseudoerasmus
Aghion (et al) have a paper on China, they recognised long ago & before many that the Chinese model departs from the East Asia model in having a Darwinian struggle-to-the-death competition of firms behind a wall of protection. It pairs Schumpeterian growth theory w the economics of industrial policy
October 13, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Aghion (et al) have a paper on China, they recognised long ago & before many that the Chinese model departs from the East Asia model in having a Darwinian struggle-to-the-death competition of firms behind a wall of protection. It pairs Schumpeterian growth theory w the economics of industrial policy
The single biggest challenge to previous work on the 'why Europe?' question & which inspired a mountain of new work, came from Pomeranz, The Great Divergence, published by Princeton University Press. One of their bestsellers.
That was published in a series of which Mokyr has been editor in chief.
That was published in a series of which Mokyr has been editor in chief.
October 13, 2025 at 2:05 PM
The single biggest challenge to previous work on the 'why Europe?' question & which inspired a mountain of new work, came from Pomeranz, The Great Divergence, published by Princeton University Press. One of their bestsellers.
That was published in a series of which Mokyr has been editor in chief.
That was published in a series of which Mokyr has been editor in chief.
I anticipate some sneers thrown Mokyr's way so my preemptive comment...
What ever else he might have done, what ever faults he might have, Mokyr has performed a tremendous service simply by stressing the great importance of the Scientific Revolution to the birth of the modern economy.
What ever else he might have done, what ever faults he might have, Mokyr has performed a tremendous service simply by stressing the great importance of the Scientific Revolution to the birth of the modern economy.
October 13, 2025 at 1:58 PM
I anticipate some sneers thrown Mokyr's way so my preemptive comment...
What ever else he might have done, what ever faults he might have, Mokyr has performed a tremendous service simply by stressing the great importance of the Scientific Revolution to the birth of the modern economy.
What ever else he might have done, what ever faults he might have, Mokyr has performed a tremendous service simply by stressing the great importance of the Scientific Revolution to the birth of the modern economy.
Mokyr's work could not have been done today in most economics departments, but the irony is that his work would not fit in history departments today, either. Methodologically he seems more 'history' than 'economics' to economists, but the content and reasoning are too 'economics' for most historians
October 13, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Mokyr's work could not have been done today in most economics departments, but the irony is that his work would not fit in history departments today, either. Methodologically he seems more 'history' than 'economics' to economists, but the content and reasoning are too 'economics' for most historians
Four items by Mokyr: the first is a topic already recognised by the Nobel, but the other three are less well known areas of Mokyr: his study of the Irish famine, his explanation of why the Dutch Republic was not the first, and his artisan theory of the Industrial Revolution.
October 13, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Four items by Mokyr: the first is a topic already recognised by the Nobel, but the other three are less well known areas of Mokyr: his study of the Irish famine, his explanation of why the Dutch Republic was not the first, and his artisan theory of the Industrial Revolution.
David Wootton, historian of science & author of The Invention of Science, which (in part) argues (contra the HoS orthodoxy) that science played an important part in the history of technology, credits Mokyr for resurrecting that argument. Footnote 11 takes you to 4 major works by Mokyr
October 13, 2025 at 1:52 PM
David Wootton, historian of science & author of The Invention of Science, which (in part) argues (contra the HoS orthodoxy) that science played an important part in the history of technology, credits Mokyr for resurrecting that argument. Footnote 11 takes you to 4 major works by Mokyr
I love the Aghion graduate growth theory textbook. There are many reasons, but one small one is that in Acemoglu's (left), developing countries merely import frontier tech & catch up, but in AGH (right) seemingly recognises actual history & suggests indigenous innovation is important à la East Asia
October 13, 2025 at 1:50 PM
I love the Aghion graduate growth theory textbook. There are many reasons, but one small one is that in Acemoglu's (left), developing countries merely import frontier tech & catch up, but in AGH (right) seemingly recognises actual history & suggests indigenous innovation is important à la East Asia
I personally think Robert Allen, another economic historian of the British Industrial Revolution with a theory of innovation as well known as Mokyr's, and are complementary to Mokyr's, should have been included in the Nobel. But I recognise that they don't do fours ;-)
October 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM
I personally think Robert Allen, another economic historian of the British Industrial Revolution with a theory of innovation as well known as Mokyr's, and are complementary to Mokyr's, should have been included in the Nobel. But I recognise that they don't do fours ;-)
Aghion (et al) have a paper on China, they recognised long ago & before many that the Chinese model departs from the East Asia model in having a Darwinian struggle-to-the-death competition of firms behind a wall of protection. It pairs Schumpeterian growth theory w the economics of industrial policy
October 13, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Aghion (et al) have a paper on China, they recognised long ago & before many that the Chinese model departs from the East Asia model in having a Darwinian struggle-to-the-death competition of firms behind a wall of protection. It pairs Schumpeterian growth theory w the economics of industrial policy
Many misunderstood my meaning so here is a clarification.
I was NOT saying the social science lit arguing that war => state formation/capacity is wrong.
There is a subtle distinction between that question and the narrower historical question of the little divergence within western Europe.
I was NOT saying the social science lit arguing that war => state formation/capacity is wrong.
There is a subtle distinction between that question and the narrower historical question of the little divergence within western Europe.
Wars were mostly bad for European economic development. Might be obvious to ordinary people, but it's not considered obvious in economic history. But I think it's obvious ;-)
Below from @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Below from @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
September 23, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Many misunderstood my meaning so here is a clarification.
I was NOT saying the social science lit arguing that war => state formation/capacity is wrong.
There is a subtle distinction between that question and the narrower historical question of the little divergence within western Europe.
I was NOT saying the social science lit arguing that war => state formation/capacity is wrong.
There is a subtle distinction between that question and the narrower historical question of the little divergence within western Europe.
Wars were mostly bad for European economic development. Might be obvious to ordinary people, but it's not considered obvious in economic history. But I think it's obvious ;-)
Below from @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Below from @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
September 22, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Wars were mostly bad for European economic development. Might be obvious to ordinary people, but it's not considered obvious in economic history. But I think it's obvious ;-)
Below from @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Below from @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social
Happy to see @victoriagierok.bsky.social argue ‘ “The state made war and war made the state” does not describe very aptly what happened during pre-industrial Europe’s largest wars’ in a recent paper on wealth destruction in urban Germany during the Thirty Years' War.
ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid...
ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid...
September 22, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Happy to see @victoriagierok.bsky.social argue ‘ “The state made war and war made the state” does not describe very aptly what happened during pre-industrial Europe’s largest wars’ in a recent paper on wealth destruction in urban Germany during the Thirty Years' War.
ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid...
ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid...
From a new paper by @mjdcurtis.bsky.social, David de la Croix, et al. The Little Divergence in 'academic human capital' (kind of publications index) btw northern & southern Europe started ca 1500. Northern Germany diverged from central & southern German areas after the Thirty Years' War.
September 21, 2025 at 3:25 PM
From a new paper by @mjdcurtis.bsky.social, David de la Croix, et al. The Little Divergence in 'academic human capital' (kind of publications index) btw northern & southern Europe started ca 1500. Northern Germany diverged from central & southern German areas after the Thirty Years' War.
I feel duty-bound to read the new book McCloskey is working on now, but if below is any guide, it does NOT look promising. As long-time followers know, I'm sympathetic to her point about enclosures but I have 2 objections, stylistic & substantive. Stylistic: her batshit crazy gratuitous rhetoric.
September 17, 2025 at 6:28 PM
I feel duty-bound to read the new book McCloskey is working on now, but if below is any guide, it does NOT look promising. As long-time followers know, I'm sympathetic to her point about enclosures but I have 2 objections, stylistic & substantive. Stylistic: her batshit crazy gratuitous rhetoric.
Incredible contribution to our knowledge of global working hours.
1/ Women supply 35% of total hours worked globally
2/ Hours worked do not substantially with income across countries. BUT this stability is produced by reductions in male hours which are offset by rises in female hours
1/ Women supply 35% of total hours worked globally
2/ Hours worked do not substantially with income across countries. BUT this stability is produced by reductions in male hours which are offset by rises in female hours
Using labor force surveys from 160 countries to build a new microdatabase on hours worked covering 97 percent of the world population to explore working hours determinants, from Amory Gethin and Emmanuel Saez https://www.nber.org/papers/w34217
September 17, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Incredible contribution to our knowledge of global working hours.
1/ Women supply 35% of total hours worked globally
2/ Hours worked do not substantially with income across countries. BUT this stability is produced by reductions in male hours which are offset by rises in female hours
1/ Women supply 35% of total hours worked globally
2/ Hours worked do not substantially with income across countries. BUT this stability is produced by reductions in male hours which are offset by rises in female hours
If modest pensions can measurably reduce the practice of old kinship systems (e.g., adult children residing with their parents), perhaps the impact of economic development on cultural change is severely underrated, and the reverse (impact of culture on economic development) highly overrated...
September 17, 2025 at 5:28 PM
If modest pensions can measurably reduce the practice of old kinship systems (e.g., adult children residing with their parents), perhaps the impact of economic development on cultural change is severely underrated, and the reverse (impact of culture on economic development) highly overrated...
Acemoglu once said (dismissively), "It's all Jack Goody" regarding the (now) popular claim that the Catholic Church created the European Marriage Pattern. When you read Henrich it does seem synthesised from a variety of sources. But in fact their thesis is 95% Goody. He had said it all >40 years ago
September 17, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Acemoglu once said (dismissively), "It's all Jack Goody" regarding the (now) popular claim that the Catholic Church created the European Marriage Pattern. When you read Henrich it does seem synthesised from a variety of sources. But in fact their thesis is 95% Goody. He had said it all >40 years ago
episode should have been called 'The Green Revolution in Insulin' (harvesting insulin from genetically modified bacteria)
The reviews are in!
"I heard it just now! So good 😊" – my mom
"Just listened to the new insulin episode and loved it." – @rossaokod.bsky.social
"you should have added 5 more minutes on how early researchers checked for the sweetness of animal urine..." – @pseudoerasmus.bsky.social
"I heard it just now! So good 😊" – my mom
"Just listened to the new insulin episode and loved it." – @rossaokod.bsky.social
"you should have added 5 more minutes on how early researchers checked for the sweetness of animal urine..." – @pseudoerasmus.bsky.social
New podcast episode of HARD DRUGS!
A hundred years ago, insulin was scraped from pig pancreases.
Today, it’s made by bacteria in giant tanks.
In this episode, we cover 100 years of insulin … in 15 minutes!
A hundred years ago, insulin was scraped from pig pancreases.
Today, it’s made by bacteria in giant tanks.
In this episode, we cover 100 years of insulin … in 15 minutes!
September 17, 2025 at 5:17 PM
episode should have been called 'The Green Revolution in Insulin' (harvesting insulin from genetically modified bacteria)
Formal manufacturing firms in India have very low exit rates. Yet India’s most dynamic sector, software, has lower exit rates than firms in Morocco or Chile. As far as I can tell, India’s most dynamic states, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, also have lower exit rates than firms in those countries as well.
September 15, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Formal manufacturing firms in India have very low exit rates. Yet India’s most dynamic sector, software, has lower exit rates than firms in Morocco or Chile. As far as I can tell, India’s most dynamic states, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, also have lower exit rates than firms in those countries as well.
Interesting thing about the end of the Atlantic slave trade is, which had the bigger impact, the British suppression of the trade (supply) or the end of demand at the source?
Demand is overwhelmingly more important (as the authors also argue). Yet the British naval campaign gets far more attention!
Demand is overwhelmingly more important (as the authors also argue). Yet the British naval campaign gets far more attention!
September 14, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Interesting thing about the end of the Atlantic slave trade is, which had the bigger impact, the British suppression of the trade (supply) or the end of demand at the source?
Demand is overwhelmingly more important (as the authors also argue). Yet the British naval campaign gets far more attention!
Demand is overwhelmingly more important (as the authors also argue). Yet the British naval campaign gets far more attention!
ZERO growth, possibly even negative growth, in productivity across 55,000 smallholder farms across 6 African countries (Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Tanzani) in 2008-2019, despite substantial investments.
September 13, 2025 at 4:42 PM
ZERO growth, possibly even negative growth, in productivity across 55,000 smallholder farms across 6 African countries (Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Tanzani) in 2008-2019, despite substantial investments.
A three-month-long Kreutzer earworm can actually induce mental fatigue.
September 13, 2025 at 4:31 PM
A three-month-long Kreutzer earworm can actually induce mental fatigue.
The great economic historian of 20th century China, Thomas Rawksi, weighs in on the Great Divergence debate!
Quite critical of Broadberry et al.'s claims about the precipitous decline of the Qing economy after 1700...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Quite critical of Broadberry et al.'s claims about the precipitous decline of the Qing economy after 1700...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
September 13, 2025 at 2:30 PM
The great economic historian of 20th century China, Thomas Rawksi, weighs in on the Great Divergence debate!
Quite critical of Broadberry et al.'s claims about the precipitous decline of the Qing economy after 1700...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Quite critical of Broadberry et al.'s claims about the precipitous decline of the Qing economy after 1700...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...