I noticed today that there is a new book out: James Belich, The World The Plague Made (Princeton 2022). It concerns the effects of The Black Death and its aftermath on the economic development of Western Europe, specifically the impact of such a sudden, massive population loss on economic development in succeeding centuries. I believe I also recently saw a reference to a book or journal article making the case that the population loss was not as large as has long been assumed.
You may have covered this topic somewhere, but I did wonder how the Black Death fits into your timeline for our escape from the Malthusian treadmill. Was it a short, sharp shock that didn’t have much of an effect on the long-term trend line, or was it a significant or even essential precondition to our eventual escape?
I noticed today that there is a new book out: James Belich, The World The Plague Made (Princeton 2022). It concerns the effects of The Black Death and its aftermath on the economic development of Western Europe, specifically the impact of such a sudden, massive population loss on economic development in succeeding centuries. I believe I also recently saw a reference to a book or journal article making the case that the population loss was not as large as has long been assumed.
You may have covered this topic somewhere, but I did wonder how the Black Death fits into your timeline for our escape from the Malthusian treadmill. Was it a short, sharp shock that didn’t have much of an effect on the long-term trend line, or was it a significant or even essential precondition to our eventual escape?
Yes. It is a fascinating topic. My go-to on this has been David Herlihy. But clearly something else to read!