The Next Semester Is Not That Far Away...

2022-10-10 Mo

Condition: Time to Start Planning for Spring 2023 Econ 210a: “Introduction to Economic History” (for First-Year Graduate Students)

1. Introduction & Malthusian Economies 2023-01-18 (DeLong)

2. Technology & Growth 2023-01-25 (DeLong)

3. The Commercial-Agricultural Revolution 2023-02-01 (DeLong)

4. Freedom & Unfreedom 2023-02-08 (DeLong)

5. The Industrial Revolution 2023-02-15 (Eichengreen)

6. American Exceptionalism 2023-02-22 (Eichengreen)

7. 19th Century Capital Markets 2023-03-01 (Eichengreen)

8. 19th Century Labor Markets 2023-03-08 (Eichengreen)

9. Globalization & the Gold Standard 2023-03-15 (Eichengreen)

10. The Great Depression 2023-03-22 (Eichengreen)

11. Technological Revolutions during Modern Economic Growth (second industrial revolution, mass production, global value, chains, info and biotech) 2023-04-05 (DeLong)

12. Global North Political Economy: The “New Deal” & “Neoliberal” Orders 2023-04-12 (DeLong)

13. Paper Presentations 2023-04-19 (DeLong & Eichengreen)

14. Paper Presentations 2023-04-26 (DeLong & Eichengreen)

So what should we put on the reading list this year?

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Must-Read: “Slouching” Makes “Five Books”:

Sophie Roell: Nonfiction of 2022: Fall Roundup: ‘The Story of Russia by Orlando Figes… Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions by Sabine Hossenfelder… Two Wheels Good: The History and Mystery of the Bicycle by Jody Rosen… Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century by Brad DeLong… The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon's Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I by Lindsey Fitzharris…. Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century by Brad DeLong: A book that’s received a lot of coverage—including from Paul Krugman in the New York Times, who called it “magisterial”—is Slouching Towards Utopia by Brad DeLong. ‘Slouching’ is one of my favourite words, so I was happy to see it in a book title, though I don’t think it does justice to what’s been achieved in economic terms over the long 20th century he covers. It’s been more of an exciting hurdle race with frequent and sometimes catastrophic crashes. DeLong is a macroeconomist at UC Berkeley who is also very interested in history (he first came to my attention for his ‘Liveblogging’ of World War II), and this book is valuable because it’s a global history of the 20th century told by someone who understands economics. Over more than 500 pages, you’ll get historical details (eg why the Nazis were called the Nazis) but also his analysis of why, for example, China was economically behind Japan in the early 20th century or Argentina has not been able to join the ranks of the wealthiest nations. After reading this book, you’ll want to read some Hayek and Polanyi, if you haven’t already…

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Other Things That Went Whizzing by…

Very Briefly Noted:

• Matt Yglesias: Columbus Day was the original woke holiday: ‘On Thursday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern, we are going to have the second meeting of the Slow Boring Book Club. We’ll be joined by author Brad DeLong to discuss his new book “Slouching Towards Utopia,” with an audience Q&A to follow. Subscribers can register here....

• Edward N. Wolff: Heterogenous Rates of Return on Homes and Other Real Estate: Do the Rich Do Better? Do Black Households Do Worse?: ‘Accrued capital gains on homes and other real estate… [suggest] returns on homes vary directly with wealth level and are considerably higher for the very wealthy compared to the middle class and lower wealth households. However, there is no evidence from the preferred specification that Black or Hispanic families receive lower returns on their property once controlling for factors such as years of occupancy and overall house price movements...

• Steve Randy Waldman: Liberalism vs democracy: ‘It’s a habit, almost a tic, for many of us to put liberalism and democracy together…. [But] liberalism… stands in real tension with democracy… valorizes and places above interference by the demos certain freedoms that have profound effects beyond the individuals who consent and choose…

• Nancy Qian: How Xi Jinping Can Strengthen the Chinese Economy: ‘Indicators that were improving continued to improve, and the problems that were hard to fix remained unfixed. The biggest change has been in Xi’s execution, which has left much to be desired…

• Ana Palacio: The West’s Role in the Global Food Crisis: ‘Contrary to the Kremlin’s claims, the West is not to blame for current food shortages in the developing world. But it does have a responsibility to help address them, rather than leaving these countries to fend for themselves…

• Nick Timiraos: Fed’s Inflation Fight Has Some Economists Fearing an Unnecessarily Deep Downturn…

• Alex Heath: Meta’s VR social network Horizon is too buggy and employees are barely using it: ‘Employees still weren’t using Horizon enough… a plan was being made to “hold managers accountable” for having their teams use Horizon at least once a week…

• Bill Emmott: What we know, and don't know, about the new geopolitical and geoeconomic order: ‘This is not just the Sam Goldwyn or Yogi Berra joke that we should never prophesy, especially about the future. I anyway have long preferred the dismissal about clairvoyant expertise sent to us by the late Peter Drucker when at some point in the 1990s we at The Economist described him as a “management guru”. Drucker wrote back that he had long believed that he had gained the title “guru” simply because the word “charlatan” was too long for a newspaper headline…

• Rana Foroohar: New rules for business in a post-neoliberal world: ‘“Reimagining the Economy”, a Harvard Kennedy School initiative led by economists Dani Rodrik and Gordon Hanson… aims to replace neoliberal policy paradigms…. Another big shindig last week, sponsored by the Roosevelt Institute, in which progressive politicos (many from within the administration) gathered to discuss the details of America’s industrial policy. While these aren’t completely clear yet, one thing is—all of this is the opposite of trickle-down…