Charter Cities Podcast Lessons on Economic Growth for the Future with Dr. Jared Rubin
Dr. Jared Rubin is the co-author of How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth, which he wrote with Mark Koyama, a previous guest on the podcast. We are so happy to welcome Jared to the show today to discuss the thesis of his book, and what he and Mark aimed to add to the literature on the subject of economic growth in the contemporary context. This is a fascinating and thoughtful conversation, packed with insight and nuance on important arguments of the past, what is needed to broaden and enhance our understanding of economic growth, and how far these projects might go towards enabling us to see a better future. Dr. Rubin answers some questions about geographic, legal, and technological explanations for growth, and stresses the importance of synergy and interplay between these theories for a more illuminating picture. So to hear all this and a whole lot more, including many reasons to pick up his latest book, tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
• Introducing the role of culture in economic growth, and tracing the roots of this inquiry.
• Positioning How the World Became Rich in the lineage of literature on the subject of growth.
• Looking at England and the emergence of modern growth; arguments over the most important factors.
• Why Dr. Rubin tried to bring different theories into conversation through writing this book.
• Unpacking the argument for the role of liberal speech norms in the history of development, proposed by McCloskey.
• Technological progress and geographic endowments; why this relationship is worth exploration.
• Dr. Rubin's perspective on the role of law and legal systems in the growth trajectory of a country.
• Discussing the relative slowing of growth in the Western world and what this may mean.
• Dr. Rubin briefly comments on an argument for total factor productivity growth being linear.
• Thoughts on big picture topics through a micro lens.
• The lessons we can take from history for the most impactful policies for growth in the future.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth
Charter Cities Podcast Episode 16 with Mark Koyama
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Culture and the Evolutionary Process