PRESTOPUNDIT -- "It's a team sport, baby!"

Quotable:

"Those who do not learn from history may in fact never repeat it."

-- Virginia Postrel in a quite interesting piece on economic history, reviewing Joel Mokyr's Encyclopedia of Economic History. Some nuggets: in 1850 shoemaking was the leading manufacturing employer in America; American unions went on strike 50 times in a period of 35 years to stop businesses from employing blacks; and cotton was once both very expensive and rarely used.

Pondered but left unanswered -- what explains the wealth of nations? Mokyr contends that without history, especially institutional history, the question cannot be answered.

Link via Lynne Kiesling, who wrote three of the entries in the encyclopedia, including those on Adam Smith and energy regulation. Anybody want to buy a copy and donate it to the Hayek Center?

Posted by Greg Ransom | TrackBack