Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson wrote “Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty” just over a decade ago. It is a great book. Admittedly they don’t really need my opinion given they were given the Nobel Prize for their work, so I doubt that they were sitting around worrying what I thought about…
Category: History
Do You Really Need A Dodgy Historical Example?
I initially trained as a historian (my Master of Arts is in Hellenistic Studies — the period just after Alexander the Great). As such, I’m fascinated by appeals to history to justify ideas in modern life. They can often be fun to read about; after all there are some great stories in history. The challenge…
A History Of Conservation
Michelle Nijhuis has written a history of conservation, Beloved Beasts. There are 1) many interesting characters and 2) fascinating ideas concerning species and their preservation. Unfortunately, these two features of the book seemed to conflict to my mind. The stories of the colorful characters’ lives kept getting interrupted by digressions about ideas. Still, none of…
Owners Often Care About Beer, Housing, God, And National Identity
Milton Friedman’s idea that owners of, and managers at, companies should only care about the owner’s wealth is pretty odd when you think about it. Owners have long cared about much more because they are human beings. A book on the Guinness family suggests owners often care about beer, housing, God, and national identity. What…
Corporate Social Responsibility
Managers at firms have a long history of seeing their role as more than just making money for their owners. Indeed, many business owners don’t just see business as only a source of profits. One way of discussing the obligations of firms is to discuss Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Today I’m looking at a history…
Change For The Better
A new year post about change for the better. Finton O’Toole tells a personal history of Ireland. This starts with his birth in 1958 and goes to the present. He is an excellent writer and there is a lot of interesting information. In this post I’ll just look at the core themes of his country…
History Of Sustainability
Jeremy Caradonna wrote a history of sustainability in his book, Sustainability. (I read the revised edition from 2022). This work draws linkages from early ideas of sustainability and looks at where we are now. Things have moved forward, and back, on the sustainability front. There is some interesting history. As someone who lives in Georgia,…
Zero Sum Thinking
Heather McGhee has a popular book on the problem of zero sum thinking. Her specific focus is on racism in the US. The argument is quite simple. Racism prevents policies that would benefit everyone. Zero Sum Thinking People often have a tendency to think of the world as having a fixed amount of a certain…
Epidemiological Transition
A second post on Angus Deaton’s The Great Escape. Here I discuss the epidemiological transition that he notes. There is a general movement in the way disease tends to afflict a country (and indeed across the whole world). The problems of disease, what the diseases are, and who they target, have a distinct pattern. Epidemiological…
Escape From Poverty And Disease
Angus Deaton, a famous economist, has a book, The Great Escape. This outlines humanity’s escape from poverty and disease. He outlines the progress that we, collectively, have made and gives his thoughts on what needs to be done. The Great Escape The title of the book is well chosen. It probably works better if you…
