A Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy




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ClassGraphic In this study group, we will read and discuss Northwestern Professor Joel Mokyr’s A Culture of Growth: The Origin of the Modern Economy, engaging his Nobel Prize–recognized ideas about how sustained technological and economic growth emerged in Western Europe. Together, we will unpack Mokyr’s explanation of how that process allowed escape from the “Malthusian trap,” in which population growth tends to absorb gains in productivity, and we will explore his argument that this process entailed a shift in how people valued, shared, and challenged knowledge. Our focus will be on understanding and discussing Mokyr’s idea of cultural evolution, especially changing beliefs about how useful knowledge is acquired, spread, and used. We will examine the rise of what he calls a transnational marketplace of ideas, the “Republic of Letters,” and consider how this network of thinkers reduced reliance on traditional authority and encouraged innovation. Along the way, we will look at Mokyr’s evidence for why this shift occurred in parts of Europe, explore alternate explanations for the Industrial Revolution, and consider his comparison with China’s different economic path. In this study group, we will try to understand why there was a great divergence between Western Europe and the rest of the world.
 

Class Details

14 Session(s)
Weekly - Tue

Location
Wieboldt Hall

Instructor
Multiple

Tuition:  $0.00

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Schedule Information

Date(s) Class Days Times Location Instructor(s)
9/8/2026 - 12/8/2026 Weekly - Tue 09:45 AM - 11:45 AM Chicago, Wieboldt Hall  Map Dick DuFour  ; Bill Barker