The History of Economic Growth in the US and the West

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I think that we have actually a large agreement because disappointment and nostalgia are very much themes that I also write about. This raises a couple of questions. The first is actually a genuine puzzle. I tend to the view which has been best captured in Robert Gordon's wonderful book on the history of economic growth in the US, but for the West. And I'm really talking particularly about Britain America and Western Europe. A society that been predominantly rural and agricultural became industrial and urban. There was tremendous social conflict and in some cases this led to authoritarianism or strength in itThis is clearly true. But the dominant political demands of those times and ultimately successful ones were for widening the suffrage in most

In this third episode of Martin Wolf’s series, the renowned FT columnist and economist speaks to the journalist and historian Anne Applebaum, who has written extensively about the history of communism and the development of civil society in central and eastern Europe. Drawing on arguments in Martin’s latest book, The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, they discuss what lies behind a global rise in autocracy and what can be done to counter it.

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This episode is presented by Martin Wolf. The producer is Laurence Knight. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa and the sound engineer is Breen Turner. The FT's global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. Clips: C-Span, France 24, Soviet radio, BBC, Stanford University, CBS

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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