Why Incomes Suddenly Exploded After Millennia of Stagnation (And What It Means for Our Future)

Описание: How does economics explain how humanity went from thousands of years of grinding poverty to a world of rising incomes, technological breakthroughs, and demographic change that reshaped everyday life? This video walks through the Malthusian trap, explains why pre‑industrial living standards stayed stuck for so long, and shows how the Industrial Revolution and the demographic transition finally broke that logic. Along the way, it connects historical economics to today’s debates about climate change, population, and whether growth can continue indefinitely.

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References cited (See transcript)
Alter, G., & Clark, G. (2010). The demographic transition and human capital. In S. Broadberry & K. H. O’Rourke (Eds.), The Cambridge economic history of modern Europe: Volume 1. 1700–1870 (pp. 43–69). Cambridge University Press.
Bresnahan, T. F., & Trajtenberg, M. (1995). General purpose technologies: “Engines of growth?”. Journal of Econometrics, 65(1), 83–108.
Clark, G. (2007). A farewell to alms: A brief economic history of the world. Princeton University Press.
Clark, G. (2008). In defense of the Malthusian interpretation of history. European Review of Economic History, 12(2), 175–199.
Jedwab, R., Johnson, N. D., & Koyama, M. (2022). The economic impact of the Black Death. Journal of Economic Literature, 60(1), 132-178.
Malthus, T. R. (1798). An essay on the principle of population. J. Johnson.


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