A blog on economic history that critically re-examines prominent empirical claims in economics, such as the effects of the French Revolution on growth and the 'China shock'. Readers get close readings of papers, with attention to methodology and quotations from the original sources.
Website: https://poorrichworld.blog
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.
Adam Tooze's newsletter curates and comments on daily links across economics, geopolitics and economic history, from tariffs and inflation to the AI boom's effect on the US current account. Each issue pairs current macro and market items with historical and intellectual-history threads and an art image.
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.
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