The hottest Economic History Substack posts right now

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250 years of The Wealth of Nations

The Common Reader • 1665 implied HN points • 09 Mar 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. Require serious study and a probationary exam for anyone entering liberal professions or public office. Educated leaders are less prone to superstition and set a better example for society.
  2. Encourage free, frequent public entertainments—music, theater, painting, dancing—to keep people cheerful and undercut the gloomy moods that breed fanaticism. Dramatic performances in particular can expose and ridicule popular frauds.
  3. Support the arts, humanities, and public education as a public good that spreads learning and civic calm without heavy-handed control. Broad education among the middling classes promotes social stability and better judgment.

“There is a great disorder under the heaven. The situation is excellent”

Global Inequality and More 3.0 • 921 implied HN points • 08 Mar 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. Mao’s idea of “continuous revolution” came from a sincere belief that socialism would recreate new hierarchies, so periodic upheaval was needed to prevent a bureaucratic class from forming.
  2. Lin Biao’s flight is ambiguous and not clearly a planned coup; the evidence suggests he may have fled primarily to save himself, leaving his broader intentions unresolved.
  3. Strong leftist support in industrial cities owed as much to the Cultural Revolution’s anti‑hierarchical, liberatory appeal as to elite intrigue, since many workers saw chaos and breakdown of norms as a form of freedom.

The Casual Fridays Edition

Why is this interesting? • 1749 implied HN points • 05 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Economic History
  1. Casual Friday wasn't a natural workplace trend but a deliberate marketing campaign by Hawaii's garment industry to sell aloha shirts.
  2. The industry used soft lobbying—sending shirts to politicians and getting prominent figures to wear them—to normalize aloha attire in official and corporate spaces.
  3. That long-running effort successfully manufactured a social norm and widespread consumer demand, turning a local product push into a national workplace habit.

Do Commodities Get Cheaper Over Time?

Construction Physics • 26515 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26
💰 Finance Economic History
  1. Over long periods most commodities—especially agricultural products and many minerals—have become cheaper in real terms because production technologies and processes improved and scaled up.
  2. In the last few decades that trend has weakened or reversed: oil, natural gas, beef, pork, and many crops have tended to rise in price since about 2000.
  3. Whether a commodity gets cheaper over time depends on how much its production can be automated and expanded (which pushes prices down) versus being limited by depletion, extraction difficulty, cartels, policy, or demand shocks (which push prices up).

Top Links 1038 Oil loses its bite. The historical diffusion of farming. Landscapes of power & the "Chance for Peace".

Chartbook • 557 implied HN points • 11 Mar 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. Oil is becoming less central to the American economy and no longer drives prices, politics, or growth the way it used to.
  2. The historical spread of farming fundamentally reshaped societies and landscapes, driving long-term demographic and economic change.
  3. Power structures and geography shape political outcomes, and there are occasional moments—like a 'Chance for Peace'—when conditions align to make peace possible.
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To work or not to work

Global Inequality and More 3.0 • 1857 implied HN points • 28 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics Economic History
  1. Many rich countries choose shorter workweeks while keeping high productivity per hour, trading some material income for more leisure and a higher quality of life.
  2. Global competition and the growth drive of market economies reward nations that work harder, so falling behind in effort can mean loss of wealth, influence, and technological edge.
  3. There are different visions of work: some hoped abundance would let people work very little, while others argue people need meaningful, self-directed work rather than enforced drudgery for true human flourishing.

Top Links 1035 Chinese and American fiscal exceptionalism. How the UK ended coal & Keynes on the "short run", in which we are "still alive”.

Chartbook • 729 implied HN points • 08 Mar 26
💰 Finance Economic History
  1. China and the United States each diverge from the average OECD fiscal structure, but they do so in opposite directions.
  2. There is coverage of how the UK ended coal, tracing the policies and shifts that led to coal’s decline.
  3. The piece revisits Keynes’s view of the 'short run', highlighting his comment about being 'still alive' and its implications for policy.

Chartbook 434 Back to the 1970s (again) - Trump and the balance of payments.

Chartbook • 1845 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26
💰 Finance Economic History
  1. The 1974 Trade Act’s talk of a “balance-of-payments deficit” comes from the Bretton Woods era when reserve outflows mattered, so that framing doesn’t fit today’s floating-rate, fiat-dollar system and the U.S. isn’t facing a reserve-run-out problem.
  2. The law also cites “fundamental international payments problems” and “disequilibrium”; the U.S. doesn’t have classic payments problems because it issues the global currency, but claiming an international disequilibrium is a more plausible legal route to justify tariffs.
  3. Relying on 1970s emergency statutes to impose tariffs reflects a recurring return to 1970s crisis rhetoric and political constraints, and any such tariff move is likely to be legally and economically contested.

Top Links 1033 The Midwest stabilizes. Globalization wars. John Nash drowning in books. On violence and Keynes.

Chartbook • 557 implied HN points • 06 Mar 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. The U.S. Midwest is finally stopping its long population drain and appears to be stabilizing after years of people moving south.
  2. Political and economic tensions over globalization are escalating, with growing pushback against deeper global integration.
  3. Scholars and writers are producing a lot of new work on major thinkers—there’s a surge of books about John Nash and renewed debate about Keynes, including links between economics and violence.

Top Links 1031 The gas price shock. Vietnamese coffee for the GDR. The completely political Keynes. Paraprosdokian.

Chartbook • 615 implied HN points • 04 Mar 26
💰 Finance Economic History
  1. Natural gas prices have surged recently, which is worrying for energy markets, but the spike is still far below the peak seen in 2022.
  2. The links highlight surprising historical and cultural connections—like Vietnamese coffee showing up in the GDR—illustrating how global trade and culture produce unexpected encounters.
  3. Economic ideas are presented as political choices, emphasizing that Keynesian policies and similar approaches are shaped by politics as much as by theory.

Top Links 1029 Americans leaving. Keynes and art. Sam Nitro & Kautsky's neo-imperialism.

Chartbook • 572 implied HN points • 02 Mar 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. A report highlights growing numbers of Americans leaving, looking at who is moving and why it matters for politics and society.
  2. An essay connects Keynes to the world of art, showing how his collecting and ideas shaped cultural as well as economic debates.
  3. An exploration of Sam Ntiro's paintings is paired with a discussion of neo-imperialism, using art to trace colonial legacies and contemporary power dynamics.

Why 1967 was a pivotal year.

Gordian Knot News • 139 implied HN points • 17 Mar 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. In 1967 the Suez Canal closure and a tanker-market boom sharply raised oil delivery costs, prompting utilities to shift back to coal and triggering a sustained jump in fossil plant capital costs.
  2. That same year the AEC’s regulatory arm gained power and issued 70 broadly defined General Design Criteria, imposing large, retroactive requirements that raised cost and uncertainty for nuclear builders.
  3. The combined market shocks and heavier regulation drove nuclear capital costs way up between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s, preventing expected learning-curve gains and leaving nuclear much more expensive than it might have been.

Top Link 1026 Billionaire women. Why it sucks to be a graduate in the UK. Economy as utopia. The Luftwaffe's interrogator.

Chartbook • 600 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
💰 Finance Economic History
  1. Female billionaires are far rarer than male billionaires in the U.S., and profiles of these women show different pathways to extreme wealth.
  2. Being a graduate in the UK is portrayed as increasingly difficult, with weak job prospects and economic pressures making post‑university life tough.
  3. The pieces range across big ideas and vivid stories — from debates about the economy as a utopia to historical accounts like the Luftwaffe’s interrogator, paired with art and visual material.

Top Links 1025 Late German Government spending. The Phoebus cartel. The pivot to that Asia has failed.

Chartbook • 472 implied HN points • 26 Feb 26
🌐 International Economic History
  1. The German government has only now begun the large spending surge it promised in spring 2025, despite earlier talk about it.
  2. The Phoebus cartel is a featured subject, highlighting historical corporate collusion that deliberately shortened product lifespans.
  3. The pivot to Asia is judged to have failed, signaling a major reassessment of policy and strategy toward the region.

Top Links 1024 Slashing government. Four-day Dutch. Epstein on Dalio. Keynes on sex questions.

Chartbook • 515 implied HN points • 25 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics Economic History
  1. The newsletter highlights arguments for shrinking government, focusing on debates over cutting public spending and reducing state power.
  2. It spotlights work-time reform, especially interest in a Dutch four-day workweek and its implications for productivity and living standards.
  3. It includes provocative biographical and intellectual pieces linking controversial figures and ideas, for example material involving Epstein and Dalio and writings about Keynes’s personal views.

Top Links 1027 Why the US gas business loves exports. Unger on Keynes. Decarbonization coalitions & the last Mauds in America.

Chartbook • 329 implied HN points • 28 Feb 26
💼 Business Economic History
  1. The US natural gas industry is increasingly built around exports, which strongly shapes its business strategy and political influence.
  2. A major discussion revisits Keynesian economics and assesses how Keynes’s ideas matter for current policy debates.
  3. There is growing focus on coalitions pushing decarbonization and on the situation of the remaining entities referred to as the "last Mauds" in America.

This Week in American History: Tariff Wars

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 139 implied HN points • 11 Mar 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. James Madison’s writings about tariffs and the Constitution still matter — his views were cited repeatedly in a recent Supreme Court case about presidential tariff powers.
  2. The 1832–33 nullification crisis, when South Carolina challenged protective tariffs, nearly sparked a civil war before a temporary truce eased the conflict.
  3. Madison was the only living signer of the Constitution who publicly weighed in during that crisis, showing his continued authority on debates over federal power.

Top Links 1023 Clean capacity club. WWII & Keynesianism. A Love Supreme and a hundred flowers media.

Chartbook • 414 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. The 'clean capacity club' points to a growing focus on building and sharing clean energy capacity to meet climate and power needs.
  2. Links explore how WWII mobilization helped cement Keynesian ideas about using state power to manage economies and shape postwar policy.
  3. Housing has become much less affordable: in modern America it typically takes two incomes to buy a house.

Top Links 1020 A bad time for US equities. Keynes on the state. Cities without ground & Pol Roger.

Chartbook • 457 implied HN points • 21 Feb 26
💰 Finance Economic History
  1. US equities are having a rough start to 2026, with markets showing clear weakness.
  2. There’s a renewed focus on Keynes’s ideas about the role of the state in the economy.
  3. The selection also points to urban themes like “cities without ground” and a piece on Pol Roger, mixing cultural and urbanist interest with the economic coverage.

David Pinsof on Evolution and Intellectuals

In My Tribe • 364 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. Human minds evolved adaptations for broad "types" like food, mates, groups, and status, so we apply those patterns to current "tokens." Seeing markets or status as zero-sum can be a sensible response when politics and wealth are tightly intertwined.
  2. Many intellectuals chase prestige from audiences rather than real-world problem solving, so their incentives are often disconnected from objective improvements and can even reward harmful policies.
  3. Big social and economic changes come more from shifting incentives, institutions, and material conditions than from famous ideas alone; the idea of a "commercial society" — where exchange, not land or coercion, organizes life — helps explain the rise of modern capitalism.

Should comparative economics still exist?

Global Inequality and More 3.0 • 1374 implied HN points • 25 Jan 26
🚌 Education Economic History
  1. Some argue economics should focus only on today’s capitalism and drop comparative-system study because alternative systems no longer exist in practice.
  2. Teaching other systems like socialism reveals a very different logic of income distribution—politically set wages, mostly proportional taxes, transfers tied to age or family status, and little private capital income—which helps broaden how we think about inequality.
  3. Including a short unit on comparative systems costs little class time but may attract limited student interest, so teachers must decide whether to teach to meet demand or to broaden students’ horizons and create new interest.

Age of Invention: Tudor Trade War

Age of Invention, by Anton Howes • 2274 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. Henry VII and his government actively enforced and tightened old labour laws, using punishments, forced placements, and financial incentives for informers to crack down on vagrancy and wage violations.
  2. His 1493 embargo on trade with the Low Countries, meant to punish foreign support for a pretender, collapsed English cloth exports, threw tens of thousands out of work, raised import prices, and ended up strengthening Flemish and Habsburg control of the market.
  3. The episode was not successful industrial policy but a costly political gamble: it harmed English manufacturing, led to temporary wage-cap changes and harsher policing, and only after trade stabilized did English cloth exports recover and expand.

Top Links 1015 America's economic pluralism. Substack for sex. Survivors of the Light Brigade and Crisis & Critique.

Chartbook • 443 implied HN points • 16 Feb 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. The newsletter curates top links and readings that highlight themes like America’s economic pluralism and broader debates in economics and culture.
  2. It’s a subscription-supported publication with paid posts, but it offers at least one free post and asks for reader support to keep the project going.
  3. The content blends visuals and varied topics—art, sex-related pieces, historical survivors, and political critique—showing a wide, cross-disciplinary focus.

Top Links 1009 The phases of US wage stagnation and growth. Stress testing. Roman trade routes and existential historicism.

Chartbook • 515 implied HN points • 10 Feb 26
💰 Finance Economic History
  1. US wages have moved through clear phases of stagnation and growth, and recognizing those phases helps explain current patterns of inequality and labor-market dynamics.
  2. Stress testing is an essential tool for exposing weaknesses in financial systems and institutions by simulating extreme scenarios before real crises occur.
  3. Examining Roman trade routes highlights how long-distance economic networks shaped societies, and an existential historicist view shows how those deep structural forces change cultural meanings over time.

The ways of empires

Global Inequality and More 3.0 • 1766 implied HN points • 28 Dec 25
💾 History Economic History
  1. The nation-state order is failing to handle mass migration, ecological collapse, and rising inequality, while a few mega‑companies are eroding institutions and raising systemic risks.
  2. Empires have historically justified domination in different ways—religion (Europe), property and commercial plunder (Britain), law (United States), and control of nature (China)—and those ideas enabled extraction at home and abroad.
  3. Rather than disappearing, states are likely to be co-opted by techno‑feudal elites who combine technological power with the state's legal coercion to entrench control instead of expanding real power to ordinary people.

Reacting to Matt Yglesias's Confession that A.I. Progress Is Giving Him Writer’s Block

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 292 implied HN points • 18 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Economic History
  1. Uncertainty about whether AI will plateau or trigger far-reaching, rapid change is freezing people up and making it hard to write or craft medium-run policy because so many scenarios point to very different prescriptions.
  2. Human collective knowledge and past waves of technology suggest AI is best seen as a powerful new tool that amplifies our existing, distributed intelligence rather than automatically becoming a silicon god, with historical tech shifts unfolding in distinct accelerations.
  3. Rather than throwing up hands, the practical move is to focus on concrete policy and investment now — treating AI as a tool that can be guided to redirect human talent (for example toward teaching) and to shape the next decade of outcomes.

Economics Links, 2/12/2026

In My Tribe • 273 implied HN points • 12 Feb 26
💼 Business Economic History
  1. Modern growth theory introduced formal production functions that made economic progress measurable and showed that, in competitive markets, wages tend to reflect workers' marginal product.
  2. Housing research finds house prices move with average incomes while housing supply usually follows population growth, so price–income correlations don’t prove supply restrictions are the primary cause of high local prices.
  3. New solar-driven processes to make synthetic hydrocarbons promise abundant, low‑cost energy in the future, but real‑world limits like grid integration and total system costs could slow their widespread adoption.

Top Link 995 How Intel came back to earth. China's gender crisis. The geography of the U-boat war. A movie about Leibniz.

Chartbook • 586 implied HN points • 27 Jan 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. Intel's recent rally reversed sharply. It shows investor optimism was premature and the company still faces major operational and financial challenges.
  2. China is facing a serious gender crisis that creates demographic imbalances. That situation poses long-term social and economic risks.
  3. New looks at the geography of the U-boat war highlight how place and space shaped naval conflict. A movie about Leibniz also signals renewed cultural interest in intellectual history.

Top Links 994 Tesla's European shock. Dutch neoliberalism. Enigma & the dilemma of superior intelligence.

Chartbook • 572 implied HN points • 26 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Economic History
  1. Tesla's European shock: Tesla's actions are producing a major shock to Europe’s auto market and policy landscape.
  2. Dutch neoliberalism: The newsletter highlights how neoliberal policies in the Netherlands shape politics, the economy, and social life.
  3. Enigma & the dilemma of superior intelligence: It explores the puzzle of superior intelligence and the dilemmas it creates, including ethical, governance, and strategic challenges.

Why Europe got rich, and China didn't

The Common Reader • 2374 implied HN points • 18 Nov 25
💾 History Economic History
  1. Europe became wealthy partly because of its decentralized systems that encouraged innovation, while China's centralized authority limited opportunities. This allowed Europeans to create corporations and self-governing institutions.
  2. Another reason for Europe's prosperity is its universalistic values, encouraging cooperation between unrelated individuals, unlike China's focus on kinship ties. This led to more productive networks and economic activities.
  3. The Industrial Revolution thrived on practical knowledge and innovation from individual creativity instead of just resources like coal. This made Europe uniquely positioned to develop economically, while China relied heavily on a state-controlled education system that stifled useful knowledge.

Top Links 996 Democratization and growth. Avoiding the fossil detour. Is AI a failure? And, the first queen of Prussia.

Chartbook • 472 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. The relationship between democratization and economic growth is examined, with a clear warning that simple inferences from the data would be misleading.
  2. A key theme is avoiding a “fossil detour,” meaning energy and development pathways should not fall back into renewed dependence on fossil fuels.
  3. The links probe whether AI can be seen as a failure and mix that debate with cultural and historical pieces, including the first queen of Prussia and a Picasso image.

Top Links 989 The repo man cometh. Schacht in Iran. How native Americans met the horse & Pizza intel.

Chartbook • 500 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
💰 Finance Economic History
  1. The roundup bundles varied links covering economic strains (the “repo man” theme), historical/political items like Schacht in Iran, cultural history about Native Americans meeting the horse, and oddities such as “pizza intel.”
  2. The soft underbelly of the US economy is taking hits, signaling real vulnerabilities and financial stress in certain sectors.
  3. The material is distributed via a paid newsletter model, with subscription options and some posts offered free while others are behind a paywall.

Top Links 984 Caesarization of the accountant. JFK as functional finance hero. "Homo narrans" & which parts of America are good at reading?

Chartbook • 557 implied HN points • 16 Jan 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. Accountants and technocratic managers are gaining outsized political power and acting like modern Caesars who run things behind the scenes.
  2. John F. Kennedy is cast as a functional finance hero who used government fiscal and monetary tools to steer the economy and legitimize activist economic policy.
  3. Humans are "Homo narrans," meaning we understand the world through stories, and that prompts a look at which parts of America still have strong reading cultures and how that shapes civic life.

Top Links 986 Shale sliding. Modern whaling. The nuclear dump in the Atlantic & the world according to Standard Oil.

Chartbook • 515 implied HN points • 18 Jan 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. The US shale industry is under strain, with the Permian Basin seeing falling rig counts despite political rhetoric about oil.
  2. Modern whaling is highlighted as a significant contemporary issue, raising environmental and conservation concerns.
  3. There is concern about a nuclear waste dump in the Atlantic and about the global influence and legacy of Standard Oil.

Economics Links, 2/3/2026

In My Tribe • 243 implied HN points • 03 Feb 26
💰 Finance Economic History
  1. A concentrated productivity shift is underway in finance, insurance, information, and professional/business services: these sectors have kept growing output while employment has flattened, pushing output per worker sharply higher since 2022. This acceleration looks sector-specific rather than a broad private‑sector trend.
  2. There are two contrasting ways to see central banks: one treats them as liquidity providers and dealers of last resort sitting atop a hierarchy of money, focused on keeping payments and credit relationships working, while the other treats them as essentially a government bank whose balance sheet and interest on reserves make central‑bank liabilities behave like short‑term Treasury instruments. The choice between these views changes how you interpret central‑bank tools and their role in stabilizing markets.
  3. Fear of crime, not lack of demand, helps explain why many American cities stay low‑density compared with Europe: people avoid neighborhoods they perceive as unsafe, which reduces urban living despite high rents in safer areas. Making neighborhoods safer would likely raise demand to live in more parts of cities and increase density.

Top Links 982 The AI boom as a socio-economic phenomenon. We need more copper. Climate shock and the French revolution.

Chartbook • 572 implied HN points • 14 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Economic History
  1. The AI boom is not just a stock-market bubble; it's part of a broader socio-economic lurch reshaping economies and labor.
  2. Rapid technological expansion is increasing demand for raw materials, especially copper, meaning we will need much more copper to build new infrastructure.
  3. Climate shocks can trigger major political and social upheaval, as seen in the link between environmental crises and events like the French Revolution.

Pre-Class Assignment: Breaking Through: The Coming of Commercial-Imperial Society :: Do before 2026-02-22 23:59 PST :: Econ 196 :: S2026

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 123 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. The Dover Circle’s post-1500 economic breakthrough was an unusual historical anomaly that came from a failure to stabilize the usual preindustrial society-of-domination and depended on specific ecological, social, financial, and imperial conditions.
  2. Europe’s odd mix of feudal fragmentation, weak kinship ties, strong urban-bourgeois forces, later female first marriage, and relatively high wages made it an unstable outlier that pushed toward capitalism and modern science.
  3. Flexible credit around 1490–1530 financed linked projects of war, exploration, printing, and state-building that helped create a Europe-centered world system, while stable gunpowder empires in Asia, once opened to global markets, faced deindustrialization under international competition.

Foundations of Investing: Inflation

Behavioral Value Investor • 141 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26
💰 Finance Economic History
  1. Money can and very likely will lose some of its purchasing power over time. If you just hold cash, it will buy fewer goods and services in the future.
  2. Government actions like printing money or debasing currency have repeatedly driven inflation, and history shows this can sometimes be extreme enough to wipe out savings. Even stable countries can experience long periods of above-target inflation.
  3. Because of inflation, savers should use ways of saving or investing that at least keep up with inflation instead of leaving money idle under a mattress. Investing can help preserve and grow the real value of your savings over the long run.

Top Links 990 AI race. Iranian malaise. How Tudor trade policy backfired. The Schmitt-Hayek connection.

Chartbook • 371 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. The global AI race has shifted, with Chinese AI models overtaking others in downloads by August 2025.
  2. Iran is grappling with deepening political and economic malaise that is affecting its domestic stability and regional role.
  3. Historical trade policies like Tudor-era protectionism can backfire economically, and there is a notable intellectual connection between thinkers such as Schmitt and Hayek that shaped modern political-economic ideas.

A Brief Note on the Near-Absence of Pre-1500 "Economic Growth"

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 199 implied HN points • 04 Feb 26
💾 History Economic History
  1. Before about 1500, typical people's material living standards hardly improved because slow technological gains were routinely eaten up by population growth under Malthusian pressure.
  2. Social institutions like patriarchy and elite predation channeled scarce resources to the powerful and encouraged high fertility, keeping most people near subsistence while elites grew richer.
  3. Sustained modern growth required more people, education, communication, and better incentives to collaborate and innovate, which after the 19th century allowed societies to escape the Malthusian trap and raise living standards.