Slouching Towards Utopia w/ Brad DeLong - EP163

<p>Slouching Towards Utopia is the new book from Brad DeLong, Professor of Economics at University of California, Berkeley. Professor DeLong joins show host Gene Tunny to discuss the long twentieth century from 1870 to 2010. The conversation considers the three factors which came together to massively raise living standards post-1870, and how nonetheless we’ve struggled to achieve the Utopia that once appeared possible. The “neoliberal turn” beginning in the 1970s and 1980s is considered, and DeLong explains why he writes that “Hayek and his followers were not only Dr. Jekyll–side geniuses but also Mr. Hyde–side idiots.”</p><p>You can buy Slouching Towards Utopia via this link:</p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/3TK4evm" target="_blank">https://amzn.to/3TK4evm</a></p><p>Please get in touch with any questions, comments and suggestions by emailing us at <a href="mailto:contact@economicsexplored.com" target="_blank">contact@economicsexplored.com</a> or sending a voice message via <a href="https://www.speakpipe.com/economicsexplored" target="_blank">https://www.speakpipe.com/economicsexplored</a>. </p><h3>Highlights</h3><ul><li>The big story after 1870: technological progress becomes rapid, the technological competence of the human race globally doubles every generation. [6:50]</li><li>The importance of industrial research labs in the big story since 1870 [16:35]</li><li>The role of the modern corporation [18:23]</li><li>Globalization in the late nineteenth century and pre WWI [23:25]</li><li>How bad governance can make a country very poor very quickly [29:09]</li><li>The neoliberal turn [35:56]</li><li>Prof. DeLong thinks the big lesson of history is that trying to maintain social and economic systems past their sell-by date doesn’t work [58:28]</li></ul><h3>About this episode’s guest: Brad DeLong</h3><p><a href="https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/profile/brad-delong" target="_blank">Brad DeLong</a> is a professor of economics at U.C. Berkeley, a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a weblogger at