Lessons on Economic Growth for the Future with Dr. Jared Rubin
06/13/22 • 63 min
Dr. Jared Rubin is the co-author of How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth, which he wrote with Mark Koyama, a previous guest on the podcast. We are so happy to welcome Jared to the show today to discuss the thesis of his book, and what he and Mark aimed to add to the literature on the subject of economic growth in the contemporary context. This is a fascinating and thoughtful conversation, packed with insight and nuance on important arguments of the past, what is needed to broaden and enhance our understanding of economic growth, and how far these projects might go towards enabling us to see a better future. Dr. Rubin answers some questions about geographic, legal, and technological explanations for growth, and stresses the importance of synergy and interplay between these theories for a more illuminating picture. So to hear all this and a whole lot more, including many reasons to pick up his latest book, tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
• Introducing the role of culture in economic growth, and tracing the roots of this inquiry.
• Positioning How the World Became Rich in the lineage of literature on the subject of growth.
• Looking at England and the emergence of modern growth; arguments over the most important factors.
• Why Dr. Rubin tried to bring different theories into conversation through writing this book.
• Unpacking the argument for the role of liberal speech norms in the history of development, proposed by McCloskey.
• Technological progress and geographic endowments; why this relationship is worth exploration.
• Dr. Rubin's perspective on the role of law and legal systems in the growth trajectory of a country.
• Discussing the relative slowing of growth in the Western world and what this may mean.
• Dr. Rubin briefly comments on an argument for total factor productivity growth being linear.
• Thoughts on big picture topics through a micro lens.
• The lessons we can take from history for the most impactful policies for growth in the future.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth
Charter Cities Podcast Episode 16 with Mark Koyama
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Dr. Jared Rubin is the co-author of How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth, which he wrote with Mark Koyama, a previous guest on the podcast. We are so happy to welcome Jared to the show today to discuss the thesis of his book, and what he and Mark aimed to add to the literature on the subject of economic growth in the contemporary context. This is a fascinating and thoughtful conversation, packed with insight and nuance on important arguments of the past, what is needed to broaden and enhance our understanding of economic growth, and how far these projects might go towards enabling us to see a better future. Dr. Rubin answers some questions about geographic, legal, and technological explanations for growth, and stresses the importance of synergy and interplay between these theories for a more illuminating picture. So to hear all this and a whole lot more, including many reasons to pick up his latest book, tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
• Introducing the role of culture in economic growth, and tracing the roots of this inquiry.
• Positioning How the World Became Rich in the lineage of literature on the subject of growth.
• Looking at England and the emergence of modern growth; arguments over the most important factors.
• Why Dr. Rubin tried to bring different theories into conversation through writing this book.
• Unpacking the argument for the role of liberal speech norms in the history of development, proposed by McCloskey.
• Technological progress and geographic endowments; why this relationship is worth exploration.
• Dr. Rubin's perspective on the role of law and legal systems in the growth trajectory of a country.
• Discussing the relative slowing of growth in the Western world and what this may mean.
• Dr. Rubin briefly comments on an argument for total factor productivity growth being linear.
• Thoughts on big picture topics through a micro lens.
• The lessons we can take from history for the most impactful policies for growth in the future.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth
Charter Cities Podcast Episode 16 with Mark Koyama
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Previous Episode
The Real Story of China in Africa with Deborah Brautigam
China’s presence in Africa is widely speculated upon (and wildly misunderstood). Joining us today to speak to the truth of the matter is Sinologist-Africanist Professor of International Development at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Deborah Brautigam. Deborah is also the Director of the China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) and author of Will Africa Feed China? and, more famously, The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa. In this episode, she shares her nuanced perspective on the Chinese development model and aid program in Africa and how the rise of NGOs has shifted the nature of aid, in general. We discuss the role of aid as a geopolitical instrument and the differences in the ways China and the West approach the funding of infrastructure in Africa. We learn about Chinese loans versus commoditized loans, the lessons China has learned through its various endeavors, and the lessons Deborah suspects it is yet to learn. Tune in to hear more about the balance of ensuring sustainability and respecting sovereignty, what’s causing the decline in Chinese infrastructure lending, and where China’s focus has turned since the pandemic.
Key Points From This Episode:
• Deborah Brautigam’s interest in the Chinese development model and aid program in Africa.
• The argument of her first book, Will Africa Feed China?
• The problems Western aid projects have faced.
• How the rise of NGOs has shifted the nature of aid.
• The accountability structure of China in Africa.
• Aid as a geopolitical instrument.
• The two primary sources of finance for infrastructure in Africa: China and the bond markets.
• The Japanese Goa formula and its impact on Chinese aid practices today.
• How Chinese commodity-backed aid differs from that of Western entities.
• Zambia’s privatization of their copper mines.
• Why commoditized loans have a bad reputation.
• The advantage Chinese loans have over commoditized loans.
• Competitive bidding and external supervision of Chinese infrastructure in Angola.
• China’s reasons for supporting the developing world in the 60s and 70s: to support socialism and wrest diplomatic recognition away from Taipei and towards Beijing.
• The lessons China took from undertaking the Tanzam railway project in the 70s.
• Tazara Syndrome: the pride of funding projects nobody else wants to fund.
• The art of project appraisal and how to minimize risk in demand projections.
• China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
• The balance between ensuring the sustainability of aid projects and respecting sovereignty.
• How political interests undermine the ability of state-owned enterprises to be sustainable.
• The specialization and division of labor between China and the West.
• The Western profit model of new urban agglomerations.
• The misguided New Yorker report on debt-trap diplomacy in Sri Lanka.
• Reasons for the recent decline in Chinese infrastructure spending.
• China’s plans to focus on local infrastructure.
• Various views on China's motives amongst policymakers.
• Deborah’s book recommendations pertaining to Chinese issues.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa
Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia
Next Episode
Exploring Solutions to the Development Problem with Efosa Ojomo
Development is one of the major challenges of our time. Unfortunately, it’s often approached in a way that does more harm than good. Efosa Ojomo has a better solution, and he’s here today to share it. Efosa is the leader of the Global Prosperity Research Group at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, the co-author of The Prosperity Paradox, and the author of the upcoming book, The Prosperity Process. In this episode, Efosa explains how his first foray in the development space (building wells in Nigeria) catalyzed a journey of discovery which led him to realize that, in order to truly change the world, we need to implement pull strategies instead of push strategies and focus on market creating innovations. He shares some examples of what these innovations look like and we discuss what it takes to be a market creating innovator, how regulation impacts innovation, a new way to think about corruption, and more! Make sure to tune in today.
Key Points From This Episode:
• The lesson Efosa learned through his first foray in the development world.
• Definitions of the three types of innovation that Efosa and his co-authors explain in depth in their book, The Prosperity Paradox.
• Efosa shares the story of Mo Ibrhaim to highlight the power of market creating innovations.
• Push versus pull development strategies and the problem with the former.
• The story of Indomie Noodles as an example of the huge amount of change that can be made through the implementation of a pull strategy.
• How a proliferation of government agencies negatively impacts a country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• The type of person who is best suited to be a leader in the market creating innovation space.
• Aid for developing countries: how the approach needs to change.
• Efosa explains why good laws are not enough to create thriving communities.
• Key factors that resulted in the rise and fall of Venice.
• How Efosa believes we should be tackling the issue of corruption.
• A tribute to Clayton Christenson.
• The Prosperity Process; Efosa’s future book.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Global Prosperity Research Group at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/charter-cities-podcast-292917/lessons-on-economic-growth-for-the-future-with-dr-jared-rubin-38326963"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to lessons on economic growth for the future with dr. jared rubin on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy