Episode · Freakonomics Radio · 2026-03-06
Books mentioned on 666. This Is How Progress Happens
Economists don’t usually talk about “culture.” But Joel Mokyr argues that it’s the engine of innovation — and the Nobel Prize committee agreed.
Stephen Dubner discussed Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and others, Two Paths to Prosperity by Avner Greif and others, and A Culture of Growth by Joel Mokyr.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Why Nations Fail
Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A.
Discussed“When I first heard that you won the prize and I read your work about the importance of what you call culture in economic progress, I immediately compared it in my mind to the work of Deron Osamoglu and Jim Robinson who argue that institutions are the main driver of progress.”
Where to get it
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Two Paths to Prosperity
Two Paths to Prosperity by Avner Greif, Joel Mokyr, and Guido Tabellini is an academic study comparing the historical economic developments and institutional trajectories of Europe and China between the years 1000 and 2000.
Discussed“When I first heard that you won the prize and I read your work about the importance of what you call culture in economic progress, I immediately compared it in my mind to the work of Deron Osamoglu and Jim Robinson who argue that institutions are the main driver of progress.”
Where to get it
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A Culture of Growth
A Culture of Growth by Joel Mokyr is a historical examination of the cultural and economic changes that drove technological progress and the Industrial Revolution in the West.
Discussed“Let me read a bit from his best known book. It's called A Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy. He writes, The proposition I put forward here is that the explosion of technological progress in the West was made possible by cultural changes.”
Where to get it
