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Samples of Greek & Latin, Restored Pronunciation
Some MP3 samples of the “restored” pronunciation of classical Greek and Latin. I’ve long been a fan of attempts to reconstruct the pronunciation of ancient Greek and Latin. I’ve embedded MP3 snippets...
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Debate with Matt on India, China, Cuba, Korea, etc.
Below I quote the lengthy exchange I had with Matt on India, China, Cuba, South Korea, etc. in the comments section of a blogpost by HBDchick. Since our debate was off-topic, Matt and I have agreed to...
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The Little Divergence
Summary : A “great divergence” between the economies of Western Europe and East Asia had unambiguously occurred by 1800. However, there’s a growing body of opinion that this was preceded by a “little...
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Random thoughts on critiques of Allen’s theory of the Industrial Revolution
{ This post is mostly stringing together my scattered tweets over the past couple of weeks. I’ve had numerous discussions on this subject with Vincent Geloso, Judy Stephenson, Ben Schneider, Benjamin...
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The emptiness of life will save us from mass unemployment
I don’t I have much to add to the debate about the dystopian robot future scenario envisioned by many people. But I do think the nightmare scenario is less mass unemployment than a kind of revamped...
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The Bairoch conjecture on tariffs & growth
{ Note: This post describes and summarises a literature on 19th century growth & trade. I do not necessarily endorse its findings. This post is intended as largely descriptive. } There is a vast...
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The Napoleonic blockade & the infant industry argument: caveats, limitations,...
Some reservations about, and limitations of, the Napoleonic blockade paper on the infant industry argument that’s making waves. (Major caveat to the paper: protection persisted for decades after the...
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Tariff Protection of British cotton 1774-1820s
British Tariff Protection after 1774: Competition, Innovation, & Misallocation, plus a note on Weaving This is an addendum to a post about the Calico Acts, which had prohibited within Britain the...
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The Calico Acts: Was British cotton made possible by infant industry...
Many “global historians” argue that the British cotton industry was the product of (unintentional) infant industry protection from Indian competition in the 18th century. The various Calico Acts...
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The most stimulating economic history books since 2000
Inspired by Vincent Geloso, here is a list of the 20-25 books in economic history published since 2000 which I have found most stimulating or provocative. Not necessarily the best or the most...
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More frivolously assembled lists of books
Kind of sort of a follow-up to the previous book list. Big History and “Deep Determinants” (published since 2000) Books in archaeology, anthropology, prehistory, psychology, evolution, etc. which are...
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Economic History Papers, Articles & Blogs
As a companion to my Economic History books page, which stresses economic history by region or country, I have created a new Economic History Papers page. It collects surveys, papers, and blogs which...
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The Political Economy of US Foreign Policy
Summary : (Part 1 of 4) I critique commenter Matt’s argument that, at the deepest level, American foreign policy has sought a “favourable investment climate” for itself in the Third World. Part 2 : A...
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Labour relations & textiles: addenda
This post contains related topics and disjointed observations as addenda to “Labour repression & the Indo-Japanese divergence” in cotton textiles. (Lack of) Japanese industrial policy in cotton...
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Labour repression & the Indo-Japanese divergence
There used to be more research and debate on the negative effects of labour resistance on economic development, but that topic has been crowded out by the intense focus on inequality of recent years....
View ArticleSamples of Greek & Latin, Restored Pronunciation
Some MP3 samples of the “restored” pronunciation of classical Greek and Latin. I’ve long been a fan of attempts to reconstruct the pronunciation of ancient Greek and Latin. I’ve embedded MP3 snippets...
View ArticleDebate with Matt on India, China, Cuba, Korea, etc.
Below I quote the lengthy exchange I had with Matt on India, China, Cuba, South Korea, etc. in the comments section of another blog. Since our debate was off-topic, Matt and I have agreed to move it...
View ArticleIdeology & Human Development
How real are Cuba’s accomplishments in health and education since the revolution? How do they compare with the situation prior to the revolution? Was the Soviet Union’s subsidy to Cuba crucial to its...
View ArticleArgentina’s Exclusion from the Marshall Plan 1948-50
In the comments section of an unrelated blogpost, the commenter Matt doggedly argues that the Truman administration deliberately prohibited the European beneficiaries of the Marshall Plan from using...
View Article大東亞共現代性圏
I just noticed Tyler Cowen had blogged a Boston Globe article about the number of loanwords in various languages (is there something from the press Cowen will not blog ?), and his own take was to ask,...
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