Events

An Evolutionary Approach to the History of Useful Knowledge

How should we think about long-term economic progress? Something dramatic changed in Europe in the centuries before the Industrial Revolution, but our models have difficulty identifying the precise nature of what was driving the change.

In this Quantitative History Webinar, Joel Mokyr of Northwestern University will present his argument that models inspired by Charles Darwin can help us understand the selection process that committed the most important agents in Europe to a culture of progress which we associate with the Industrial Enlightenment and eventually to sustainable economic growth. The great advantage of evolutionary thinking is that it tries to explain why the present is the way it is and not some other (possible) way and that unintended consequences and emergent properties are a key to understanding long-term economic history.

Discussant: Jared Rubin, Professor of Economics, Chapman University

Live on Zoom on March 30, 2023
09:00 Hong Kong/Beijing/Singapore | 10:00 Tokyo | 12:00 Sydney
Previous Day 18:00 Los Angeles | 21:00 New York

The Quantitative History (QH) Webinar Series aims to provide researchers, teachers, and students with an online intellectual platform to keep up to date with the latest research in the field, promoting the dissemination of research findings and interdisciplinary use of quantitative methods in historical research. The QH Webinar Series, now entering its fourth year, is co-organized by Centre for Quantitative History at the HKU Business School and International Society for Quantitative History in partnership with Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The Series is now substantially supported by the Areas of Excellence (AoE) Scheme from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. [AoE/B-704/22-R]). 量化歷史網上講座系列由香港大學陳志武和馬馳騁教授聯合發起，旨在介紹前沿量化歷史研究成果、促進同仁交流，推廣量化方法在歷史研究中的應用。本系列講座由香港大學經管學院量化歷史研究中心和國際量化歷史學會承辦，及香港人文社會研究所全力支持。從2023年開始，系列得到中國香港特別行政區研究資助局卓越學科領域計劃的重要資助 (項目編號[AoE/B-704/22-R])。

Conveners:
Professor Zhiwu Chen
Dr. Chicheng Ma