Progress Studies Archives - The Podcast Browser

Ben Southwood – The Secret Cause of the Industrial Revolution

Interview with Ben Southwood about his Works in Progress essay The Secret Cause of the Industrial Revolution. Explores how England’s Industrial Revolution was propelled by the Glorious Revolution’s institutional reforms, particularly in property rights. Parliament, dominated by landowners, systematically dismantled complex land tenure systems (like entails and open fields) and facilitated private investment in agriculture and infrastructure (roads, canals, navigable rivers). These reforms, often enacted through specific ‘Private Acts’, enabled more efficient land use, capital accumulation, and market expansion, creating the necessary conditions for widespread technological innovation and sustained economic growth, a process largely consented to by the populace.

Bernd Roeck – The World at First Light

A New History of the Renaissance

Interview with Bernd Roeck about his book The World at First Light: A New History of the Renaissance. Challenges traditional Eurocentric views of the Renaissance, exploring its global antecedents across India, Japan, China, and the Islamic world. Highlights the critical dialogue and inter-state competition in Europe as fundamental drivers of its unique development, alongside the transmission of ancient knowledge by Christian and Islamic scholars. Underscores humanism’s pivotal role in fostering man’s capacity for discovery and self-determination, weaving together themes of science, politics, and art to explain how polymathic thinkers like Leonardo da Vinci epitomised this interdisciplinary flourishing.

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Joel Mokyr – Two Paths to Prosperity

Culture and Institutions in Europe and China, 1000–2000

Interview with Joel Mokyr about his book Two Paths to Prosperity: Culture and Institutions in Europe and China, 1000–2000, co-authored with Avner Greif and Guido Tabellini. Argues that Europe’s divergence from China stems from differing social organisations: European corporations versus Chinese clans for local public goods. The Catholic Church weakened extended families in Europe, fostering non-kin cooperation like universities and guilds. Conversely, China’s imperial bureaucracy leveraged local clans. This cultural shift led to Europe’s embrace of intellectual property rights and a concept of progress, driving technological advancement. The “Industrial Enlightenment” – applying scientific knowledge for material betterment – propelled Europe, contrasting with China’s technological stagnation after 1400.

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See also the episode with Guido Tabellini.

Philip Auerswald – A Phone Is a Cow

How Pioneers of the Mobile Revolution Helped Millions Lift Themselves Out of Poverty

Interview with Philip Auerswald about his book A Phone Is a Cow: How Pioneers of the Mobile Revolution Helped Millions Lift Themselves Out of Poverty. Discusses how the extension of mobile connectivity to traditionally excluded populations led to wide-scale transformations in productivity. Explains the role of little-known entrepreneurs such as Iqbal Quadir and innovators like Claude Shannon in bringing the mobile phone to the entire world. Also covers William Nordhaus’s paper on the cost of illumination as a powerful metric of human progress, Schumpeter’s notion of innovation as new combinations, and how much of human progress is inevitable, and how much depends on the determination of remarkable individuals?

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Brink Lindsey – The Permanent Problem

The Uncertain Transition from Mass Plenty to Mass Flourishing

The Human Progress Podcast | 27 February 2026 | 1h 12m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Brink Lindsey about his book The Permanent Problem: The Uncertain Transition from Mass Plenty to Mass Flourishing. Explains how rich societies, having conquered material scarcity (Keynes’s economic problem), now face the ‘permanent problem’ of flourishing. Notwithstanding unprecedented wealth, widespread discontent, declining mental health, and social atomisation persist. This is partly due to our inability to adapt to abundance, with self-discipline eroded by cheap pleasures and digitised distractions. Suggests moving towards more localised, pluralistic communities and leveraging technology (like AI) to cultivate conditions for a fulfilling life, rather than succumbing to passivity or further societal fragmentation.

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Debin Ma – China, Japan, and the Other Paths to Prosperity

Oh Humans | 7 May 2026 | 0h 46m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Debin Ma discussing the making of the modern world from an eastern perspective: why China fell behind, why Japan modernised early, China’s recent transformation, and why East Asia has experienced so many economic miracles. Draws from his book The Cambridge Economic History of China.

Robert Allen – The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective

On Humans | 29 April 2026 | 0h 58m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Robert Allen about his 2009 book The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective. Argues the Industrial Revolution was a uniquely British event driven by high wages and cheap coal. Credits Britain’s imperialism and colonial trade for the high wages, rather than institutional or cultural factors alone. Emphasises that while industrialisation initially spiked inequality, long-term prosperity requires active state policy, education, and investment in children to ensure a productive and equitable modern economy.

See also other episodes on the Industrial Revolution.

Peter Diamandis – We Are as Gods: A Survival Guide for the Age of Abundance

The James Altucher Show | 23 April 2026 | 0h 57m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Peter Diamandis about his book We Are as Gods: A Survival Guide for the Age of Abundance. Addresses the “pandemic of fear” surrounding AI and job loss, advocating for curiosity and purpose-driven mindsets to navigate the “supersonic tsunami” of technological change. Predicts triple-digit GDP growth, universal high income, and the demonetization of essential services like healthcare. Explores brain-computer interfaces, longevity, and orbital data centers. Introduces the Future Vision XPRIZE, encouraging hopeful narratives of a godlike human future, and countering dystopian Hollywood tropes.