A newsletter of three weekly essays exploring why some societies became rich while others stayed poor, drawing on economic history, technological progress, institutions and industrialization. Issues argue from quantitative evidence that living standards have risen dramatically and examine how social mobility and GDP per capita should be interpreted.
Website: https://frompovertytoprogress.substack.com
Long-form essays on the history of innovation and the causes of the British Industrial Revolution, drawing on archival research. Recent issues cover the salt trade, Scotland's outsized role in invention, and Tudor labour laws and trade.
An economic historian writes essays on South Africa's economic past, present and future, drawing on his own archival research on the Cape Colony. Recent issues examine the role of academic conferences, AI in research and universities, and a language model's critique of one of his own published tables.
Long-form essays on pre-colonial African history, drawing on primary sources such as scribal colophons and explorers' accounts. Readers get evidence-based arguments that challenge common assumptions about African economies, religion and global connections, with deeper parts behind a Patreon paywall.
Long Arc News is a reader-supported geopolitical newsletter that uses historical episodes, such as Iraqi oil pipeline disputes between Turkey, Syria and Iraq, to examine how physical energy constraints translate into political bargains and financial consequences. Readers get long, footnoted narrative analysis built on archival documents and primary sources.
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