The capitalist market, progressives bemoan, is a cold monster: it disrupts social bonds,
erodes emotional attachments, and imposes an abstract utilitarian rationality. But what if …

Why did China decline between 1400 and 1980, only to reestablish a major presence in the
global economy? Why did Eu rope, a region torn by strife and suffering and economic …

American ruins have become increasingly prominent, whether in discussions of “urban
blight” and home foreclosures, in commemorations of 9/11, or in postapocalyptic movies. In …

Anemic financial markets mire countries in poverty. There are other reasons why countries
remain poor, but a feeble financial system blocks economic growth; or so both modern …

Charles and Emma Darwin, pretended to be so busy that he could not say what he really
was about.“I scarcely know, without a great deal of recollection, whether I am a Landed …

After 1688, Britain underwent a revolution in public finance, and the cost of borrowing
declined sharply. Leading scholars have argued that easier credit for the government, made …

We develop a model where:(i) banks take deposits and make investments;(ii) their liabilities
facilitate third-party transactions. Other models have (i) or (ii), not both, although we argue …

Small businesses were at the heart of the economic growth and social transformation that
characterized the Industrial Revolution in Britain. In towns across north-west England, shops …

We develop a new theory of money and banking based on the old story in which goldsmiths
start accepting deposits for safe keeping, then their liabilities begin circulating as media of …

An argument that the gas industry was the first integrated large-scale technological network
and that it signaled a new wave of industrial innovation. In Progressive Enlightenment …