Steven Durlauf

9 favorite history books 2025.

1. Capitalism: A Global History, Sven Beckert

9. Fateful Hours: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic, Volker Ullrich

8. What is Ancient History?, Walter Scheidel

7. The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life, Sophia Rosenfeld

6. The First Russian Revolution: The Decembrist Revolt of 1825, Susanna Rabow-Edling

5. The Revolutionary Self: Social Change and the Emergence of the Modern Individual, 1770-1800, Lynn Hunt

4. Crucibles of Power: Smolensk under Stalinist and Nazi Rule, Michael David-Fox

3. The German Empire, 1971-1918, Roger Chickering

2. Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent, Kim Bowes

9 favorite history books 2025.

1. Capitalism: A Global History, Sven Beckert

U.S. tariffs could cast shadow over holiday shopping season ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — The busiest time of year for U.S. shoppers and retail consumers is right around the corner.

Shopping this Black Friday? Wondering how tariffs will affect prices? Steven Durlauf (@durlauf.bsky.social) tells KQ2 that while the impact might not hit consumers immediately, the long-term effects could be significant.
www.kq2.com/news/u-s-tar...

Fantastic opportunity!

Thank you!

In contrast, I emphasized what I believe are unique types of distributional instabilities that can arise in growing societies, specifically as technical change occurs. And I questioned whether the selection mechanisms Sam described well capture history.

Sam's remarks were optimistic. He emphasized capacities of societies to act to reduce inequality and goes so far as to suggest that, in the spirit of Talcott Parson's evolutionary universals, more egalitarian societies are selected for over time.

YouTube video by Harris Public Policy UChicago Stone Center | Why Economic Inequalities Endure

Delighted to post this recording of my public conversation with Sam Bowles, moderated by @ethanbdm.bsky.social,
on Why Economic Inequalities Endure.

Our discussion ranges from the distant past to speculation on how AI will affect future inequality.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG0C...

Caricature of Louis XVI ("The Last") drinking from a wine bottle. He wears "bourgeois" garb [think "dressed up Benjamin Franklin" with a black coat over white breeches shirt jacket etc) a red ribbon and crucially a "phrygian cap" (liberty cap) with a revolutionary tricolor cockade. Supposedly a scene from the Tuileries Palace June 20, 1792

Trump, grinning, with goofy thumbs up, next to Mamdani, in front of portrait of FDR at his desk.

It's not a perfect analogy but I've been thinking about this 1792 cartoon ever since I saw yesterday's photo

Sam's thinking has also evolved in deep ways over time. His incredible interest in all domains of social science and his complete comfort in adapting his thinking are another type of courage.

Sam's dedication to understanding inequality and his particular modes of analysis were deeply controversial in the early parts of his career. This courage in challenging conventional paradigms regardless of professional cost are well known.

In my opinion, there is no economist who has contributed more to understanding inequality in the last 60 years than Sam Bowles.

YouTube video by Harris Public Policy UChicago Stone Center | The Origin and Future of Economic Inequality by Samuel Bowles

Honored to introduce Samuel Bowles Public Lecture The Origin and Future of Inequality, part of 3 days organized by
@ucstonecenter.bsky.social.

Sam has been an inspiration, both intellectually and morally to me, as well as to so many in the profession.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV-9...

Great paper with important implications for understanding life cycle inequalities. For example, one can see how strong memory of in labor market trajectories can lead to amplification of the experience of early career discrimination. Recommended!

Very pleased that this interesting conversation between Doug Downey and @gtwodtke.bsky.social on schools and inequality has posted.

Thank you @aeacswep.bsky.social.

Who will follow and do the right thing?

Billionaire wealth keeps climbing, but the gains don't seem to reach everyone else. Steven Durlauf (@durlauf.bsky.social) tells @marketplace.org that tax cuts for the wealthy don’t boost growth the way trickle-down theory promises.

The proudest moment of my life was my admission to
Harvard in 1976. Today I am deeply ashamed. @harvard.edu must revoke Summers' University Professorship. His holding the school's highest honor debases the university and is an insult to every woman and person of color in the academic community.

9/To be clear, I do not dogmatically oppose price controls. FTR, I support higher minimum wages. But the failed price control policies described by the authors require that one make serious arguments about mechanisms producing welfare improvements treating implementation as more than details.

8/ The Public Choice and Chicago Regulation Schools (I am a member of neither) critiques cannot simply be dismissed; they need to be addressed. Little is explained here. The time inconsistency problem cannot be wished away by sunset clauses.

7/ What confidence should one have that a regulatory authority has the information to do this, let alone what confidence should one have that the political pressures associated with the regulatory agency will not cause the careful setting of controls to go awry?

6/One answer is that such argumentation is unneeded, which we are told should be set “carefully, temporarily and alongside measures that expand supply.” (Note the putative economists who are "terrified" of price controls are unanimous in supporting efforts to expand supply.)