Econ Dept Seminars

Lecture Details

Gregory Clark from UC Davis gave a fascinating seminar on Economic Growth with a Malthusian theme ...and a corresponding conclusion "The triumph of capitalism in the modern world thus may lie as much in our genes as in ideology or rationality." Heres the paper and the abstract .
"Before 1800 all societies, including England, were Malthusian. The average man or woman had 2 surviving children. Such societies were also Darwinian. Some reproductively successful groups produced more than 2 surviving children, increasing their share of the population, while other groups produced less, so that their share declined. But unusually in England, this selection for men was based on economic success from at least 1250, not success in violence as in some other pre-industrial societies. The richest male testators left twice as many children as the poorest. Consequently the modern population of the English is largely descended from the economically successful of past generations. At the same time, from 1150 to 1800 in England there are clear signs of changes in average economic preferences towards more capitalist attitudes. The highly capitalistic nature of English society by 1800 individualism, low time preference rates, long work hours, high levels of human capital may thus stem from the nature of the Darwinian struggle in a very stable agrarian society in the long run up to the Industrial Revolution. The triumph of capitalism in the modern world thus may lie as much in our genes as in ideology or rationality."
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