Intelligence Squared

The 12 Books of Christmas, Part 2 – Oded Galor, Andrea Elliott and Orhan Pamuk

Dec 21, 2022
Join Oded Galor, a Brown University economist, as he sheds light on humanity's resilience through history, examining events like the Black Death and their impact on societal evolution. Pulitzer Prize-winner Andrea Elliott shares the inspiring story of Dasani Coates, a young girl navigating life in a homeless shelter, highlighting the harsh realities of childhood poverty. Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk discusses how crises shape narratives, especially around motherhood, in his latest work, 'Nights of Plague,' blending history and fiction to explore human behavior.
Ask episode
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
INSIGHT

Humanity's Resilience

  • Oded Galor's book, "The Journey of Humanity," offers an optimistic view of human history, even amidst catastrophes.
  • Galor argues that humanity consistently recovers from major setbacks with greater resilience, citing the Black Death and World Wars as examples.
INSIGHT

Interdisciplinary Approach

  • Oded Galor's interdisciplinary approach combines economics, history, cultural evolution, demography, and mathematics.
  • This broad perspective enables a comprehensive understanding of human development and inequality.
INSIGHT

Data Limitations and Stagnation

  • Pre-industrial data sets are limited, requiring researchers to rely on scattered evidence and logical assumptions.
  • Despite this, Galor confidently asserts that living standards remained stagnant for most of human history, with a significant increase only in the last 200 years.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Get the app