{"title":"Gregory Clark","description":"Gregory Clark is chair of the economics department at the University of California, Davis. He has written widely about economic history.","products":[{"product_id":"a-farewell-to-alms-a-brief-economic-history-of-the-world-paperback","title":"A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhy are some parts of the world so rich and others so poor? Why did the Industrial Revolution--and the unprecedented economic growth that came with it--occur in eighteenth-century England, and not at some other time, or in some other place? Why didn't industrialization make the whole world rich--and why did it make large parts of the world even poorer? In \u003ci\u003eA Farewell to Alms\u003c\/i\u003e, Gregory Clark tackles these profound questions and suggests a new and provocative way in which culture--not exploitation, geography, or resources--explains the wealth, and the poverty, of nations. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Countering the prevailing theory that the Industrial Revolution was sparked by the sudden development of stable political, legal, and economic institutions in seventeenth-century Europe, Clark shows that such institutions existed long before industrialization. He argues instead that these institutions gradually led to deep cultural changes by encouraging people to abandon hunter-gatherer instincts-violence, impatience, and economy of effort-and adopt economic habits-hard work, rationality, and education. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The problem, Clark says, is that only societies that have long histories of settlement and security seem to develop the cultural characteristics and effective workforces that enable economic growth. For the many societies that have not enjoyed long periods of stability, industrialization has not been a blessing. Clark also dissects the notion, championed by Jared Diamond in \u003ci\u003eGuns, Germs, and Steel\u003c\/i\u003e, that natural endowments such as geography account for differences in the wealth of nations. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e A brilliant and sobering challenge to the idea that poor societies can be economically developed through outside intervention, \u003ci\u003eA Farewell to Alms\u003c\/i\u003e may change the way global economic history is understood.\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"What caused the Industrial Revolution? Gregory Clark has a brilliant and fascinating explanation for this event which permanently changed the life of humankind after 100,000 years of stagnation.\"\u003cb\u003e--George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics and Koshland Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This is a very important book. Gregory Clark argues that the Industrial Revolution was the gradual but inevitable result of a kind of natural selection during the harsh struggle for existence in the pre-industrial era, in which economically successful families were also more reproductively successful. They transmitted to their descendants, culturally and perhaps genetically, such productive attitudes as foresight, thrift, and devotion to hard work. This audacious thesis, which dismisses rival explanations in terms of prior ideological, technological, or institutional revolutions, will be debated by historians for many years to come.\"\u003cb\u003e--Paul Seabright, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Company of Strangers: A Natural History of Economic Life\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Challenging the prevailing wisdom that institutions explain why some societies become rich, Gregory Clark's \"A Farewell to Alms\" will appeal to a broad audience. I can think of nothing else like it.\"\u003cb\u003e--Philip T. Hoffman, author of \u003ci\u003eGrowth in a Traditional Society\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"You may not always agree with Gregory Clark, but he will capture your attention, make you think, and make you reconsider. He is a provocative and imaginative scholar and a true original. As an economic historian, he engages with economists in general; as an economist, he is parsimonious with high-tech algebra and unnecessarily complex models. Occam would approve.\"\u003cb\u003e--Cormac Ó Gráda, author of \u003ci\u003eJewish Ireland in the Age of Joyce\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This should rapidly become a standard work on the history of economic development. It should start whole industries trying to test, refine, and refute its explanations. And Gregory Clark's views on the economic merits of imperialism and the fact that labor gained the most from industrialization will infuriate all the right people.\"\u003cb\u003e--Eric L. Jones, author of \u003ci\u003eCultures Merging\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe European Miracle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"While many books on the Industrial Revolution tend to focus narrowly either on the event itself, or on one explanation for it, Gregory Clark does neither. He takes an extremely long-run view, covering significant periods before and after the Industrial Revolution, without getting bogged down in long or detailed exposition. This is an extremely important contribution to the subject.\"\u003cb\u003e--Clifford Bekar, Lewis and Clark College\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51366070878431,"sku":"9780691141282","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/ZvqIMyxhCl9780691141282.webp?v=1789080739"},{"product_id":"the-son-also-rises-surnames-and-the-history-of-social-mobility-paperback","title":"The Son Also Rises: Surnames and the History of Social Mobility - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA surprising look at how ancestry still determines social outcomes\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHow much of our fate is tied to the status of our parents and grandparents? How much does it influence our children? More than we wish to believe. While it has been argued that rigid class structures have eroded in favor of greater social equality, \u003ci\u003eThe Son Also Rises\u003c\/i\u003e proves that movement on the social ladder has changed little over eight centuries. Using a novel technique--tracking family names over generations to measure social mobility across countries and periods--renowned economic historian Gregory Clark reveals that mobility rates are lower than conventionally estimated, do not vary across societies, and are resistant to social policies. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eClark examines and compares surnames in such diverse cases as modern Sweden and Qing Dynasty China. He demonstrates how fate is determined by ancestry and that almost all societies have similarly low social mobility rates. Challenging popular assumptions about mobility and revealing the deeply entrenched force of inherited advantage, \u003ci\u003eThe Son Also Rises\u003c\/i\u003e is sure to prompt intense debate for years to come.\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This is the most exciting research on the 'American Dream' of social mobility to come along in many years. \u003ci\u003eThe Son Also Rises\u003c\/i\u003e provides deep insights into not only the ability or inability of children to surpass their parents' socioeconomic class, but also into the surprising importance of the family to generate prosperity in general.\"\u003cb\u003e--William Easterly, author of \u003ci\u003eThe White Man's Burden\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Son Also Rises\u003c\/i\u003e is a remarkable challenge to conventional wisdom about social mobility. Using highly original methods and ranging widely across world history, Clark argues that the activities of governments impact mobility much less than most of us think--and that the only sure path to success is to be born to the right parents. Everyone interested in public policy should read this book.\"\u003cb\u003e--Ian Morris, author of \u003ci\u003eWhy the West Rules--for Now\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An important and original contribution to the literature on social mobility, \u003ci\u003eThe Son Also Rises\u003c\/i\u003e is provocative and adversarial, and a brilliant tour de force. Bravo!\"\u003cb\u003e--Cormac Ó Gráda, author of \u003ci\u003eFamine: A Short History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Son Also Rises\u003c\/i\u003e is clever, thoughtful, and well written, and provides a completely new perspective on an enduring issue--the extent of social mobility. This very provocative book will garner a great deal of attention.\"\u003cb\u003e--Joseph P. Ferrie, Northwestern University\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51366073663711,"sku":"9780691168371","price":23.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/HQvYdZCtn89780691168371.webp?v=1789080757"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/gregory-clark.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}