Originally published in Section Culture: Newsletter of the ASA Culture Section. Spring 2020, Vol 32. Issue 1 Book Symposium: A Culture of Growth (2018, Princeton) David Mitch Professor of Economics, Univ. of Maryland Joel Mokyr has produced a masterful collection of 17 essays on the relationship between early modern European intellectual life and subsequent European economic growth.  The book’s spotlight on the early modern period is something … Continue reading Symposium: Elites, Cultural Bias, and Ideas as Drivers of Economic Advance: Comments on A Culture of Growth

Originally published in Section Culture: Newsletter of the ASA Culture Section. Spring 2020, Vol 32. Issue 1 Book Symposium: A Culture of Growth (2018, Princeton) Steve Pincus Thomas Donnelly Professor of History Univ. of Chicago Joel Mokyr’s Culture of Growth is a remarkable achievement.  Mokyr has produced a cultural account of the origins of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Divergence, or the Great Enrichment based on deep … Continue reading Symposium: Four Questions To Mokyr’s A Cultural of Growth

Originally published in Section Culture: Newsletter of the ASA Culture Section. Spring 2020, Vol 32. Issue 1 Book Symposium: A Culture of Growth (2018, Princeton) Joel Mokyr Professor of Economics Northwestern University It is almost intimidating to have four of the world’s most distinguished scholars — two economists, two historians — comment on one’s book, and describe it in such flattering terms. That there would be some … Continue reading Symposium: Culture, Useful Knowledge, and A Belief in Human Agency

Originally published in Section Culture: Newsletter of the ASA Culture Section. Fall 2019. Vol. 31 Issue 2. Lara Houston At particular moments, the historically invisible work of maintenance and repair takes on a renewed importance. Today in the social sciences, maintenance and repair – as overarching themes and topics – are finding new audiences. Perhaps this is because so many taken-for-granted orders appear to be breaking down … Continue reading Roundtable: Why I study maintenance and repair