{"title":"The Princeton Economic History Of The Western World","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the economic forces that shaped the Western world. This series offers insightful analysis of historical trends, perfect for students and anyone fascinated by economic history. Start exploring today!\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"unsettled-account-book-richard-s-grossman-9780691139050","title":"Unsettled Account","description":"Commercial banks are among the oldest and most familiar financial institutions. When they work well, we hardly notice; when they do not, we rail against them. This book takes a comparative look at the development of commercial banking systems over the years in Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49529816121617,"sku":"GOR013369345","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691139059.jpg?v=1751394296"},{"product_id":"fragile-by-design-book-charles-w-calomiris-9780691168357","title":"Fragile by Design","description":"Why are banking systems unstable in so many countries--but not in others? The United States has had twelve systemic banking crises since 1840, while Canada has had none. The banking systems of Mexico and Brazil have not only been crisis prone but have provided miniscule amounts of credit to business enterprises and households. Analyzing the political and banking history of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil through several centuries, Fragile by Design demonstrates that chronic banking crises and scarce credit are not accidents. Calomiris and Haber combine political history and economics to examine how coalitions of politicians, bankers, and other interest groups form, why they endure, and how they generate policies that determine who gets to be a banker, who has access to credit, and who pays for bank bailouts and rescues. Fragile by Design is a revealing exploration of the ways that politics inevitably intrudes into bank regulation.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49543179698449,"sku":"GOR009391505","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49729960575249,"sku":"NGR9780691168357","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49787430469905,"sku":"CIN0691168350G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49902607532305,"sku":"CIN0691168350VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005763649809,"sku":"NIN9780691168357","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691168350.jpg?v=1750743975"},{"product_id":"decline-and-rise-of-democracy-book-david-stasavage-9780691177465","title":"The Decline and Rise of Democracy","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"One of the most important books on political regimes written in a generation.\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Steven Levitsky, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e–bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eHow Democracies Die\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA new understanding of how and why early democracy took hold, how modern democracy evolved, and what this history teaches us about the future\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHistorical accounts of democracy’s rise tend to focus on ancient Greece and pre-Renaissance Europe. \u003ci\u003eThe Decline and Rise of Democracy\u003c\/i\u003e draws from global evidence to show that the story is much richer—democratic practices were present in many places, at many other times, from the Americas before European conquest, to ancient Mesopotamia, to precolonial Africa. Delving into the prevalence of early democracy throughout the world, David Stasavage makes the case that understanding how and where these democracies flourished—and when and why they declined—can provide crucial information not just about the history of governance, but also about the ways modern democracies work and where they could manifest in the future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDrawing from examples spanning several millennia, Stasavage first considers why states developed either democratic or autocratic styles of governance and argues that early democracy tended to develop in small places with a weak state and, counterintuitively, simple technologies. When central state institutions (such as a tax bureaucracy) were absent—as in medieval Europe—rulers needed consent from their populace to govern. When central institutions were strong—as in China or the Middle East—consent was less necessary and autocracy more likely. He then explores the transition from early to modern democracy, which first took shape in England and then the United States, illustrating that modern democracy arose as an effort to combine popular control with a strong state over a large territory. Democracy has been an experiment that has unfolded over time and across the world—and its transformation is ongoing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmidst rising democratic anxieties, \u003ci\u003eThe Decline and Rise of Democracy\u003c\/i\u003e widens the historical lens on the growth of political institutions and offers surprising lessons for all who care about governance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49551182299409,"sku":"GOR010924045","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49736436318481,"sku":"NGR9780691177465","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50051531702545,"sku":"GOR010833079","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50719146541329,"sku":"CIN0691177465VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53142993436945,"sku":"CIN0691177465G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":53675287576849,"sku":"CIN0691177465A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691177465.jpg?v=1750847969"},{"product_id":"great-leveler-book-walter-scheidel-9780691165028","title":"The Great Leveler","description":"How only violence and catastrophes have consistently reduced inequality throughout world history  Are mass violence and catastrophes the only forces that can seriously decrease economic inequality? To judge by thousands of years of history, the answer is yes. Tracing the global history of inequality from the Stone Age to today, Walter Scheidel shows that inequality never dies peacefully. Inequality declines when carnage and disaster strike and increases when peace and stability return. The Great Leveler is the first book to chart the crucial role of violent shocks in reducing inequality over the full sweep of human history around the world. Ever since humans began to farm, herd livestock, and pass on their assets to future generations, economic inequality has been a defining feature of civilization. Over thousands of years, only violent events have significantly lessened inequality. The \"Four Horsemen\" of leveling--mass-mobilization warfare, transformative revolutions, state collapse, and catastrophic plagues--have repeatedly destroyed the fortunes of the rich.\nScheidel identifies and examines these processes, from the crises of the earliest civilizations to the cataclysmic world wars and communist revolutions of the twentieth century. Today, the violence that reduced inequality in the past seems to have diminished, and that is a good thing. But it casts serious doubt on the prospects for a more equal future. An essential contribution to the debate about inequality, The Great Leveler provides important new insights about why inequality is so persistent--and why it is unlikely to decline anytime soon.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49552425058577,"sku":"GOR008860399","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49567315067153,"sku":"CIN0691165025G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50096091463953,"sku":"CIN0691165025VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50935039164689,"sku":"GOR008941988","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53376985661713,"sku":"GOR011680956","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53559519936785,"sku":"GOR014960440","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691165025.jpg?v=1750912355"},{"product_id":"understanding-the-process-of-economic-change-book-douglass-c-north-9780691145952","title":"Understanding the Process of Economic Change","description":"Develops a way of understanding the process by which economies change. This title explains how different societies arrive at the institutional infrastructure that determines their economic trajectories. It argues that economic change depends largely on 'adaptive efficiency'.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49553127309585,"sku":"GOR009427170","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49731487498513,"sku":"NGR9780691145952","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005734355217,"sku":"NIN9780691145952","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52967003750673,"sku":"CIN0691145954G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691145954.jpg?v=1751262081"},{"product_id":"winding-road-to-the-welfare-state-book-george-r-boyer-9780691178738","title":"The Winding Road to the Welfare State","description":"\u003cp\u003eHow did Britain transform itself from a nation of workhouses to one that became a model for the modern welfare state? \u003ci\u003eThe Winding Road to the Welfare State\u003c\/i\u003e investigates the evolution of living standards and welfare policies in Britain from the 1830s to 1950 and provides insights into how British working-class households coped with economic insecurity. George Boyer examines the retrenchment in Victorian poor relief, the Liberal Welfare Reforms, and the beginnings of the postwar welfare state, and he describes how workers altered spending and saving methods based on changing government policies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the cutting back of the Poor Law after 1834 to Parliament’s abrupt about-face in 1906 with the adoption of the Liberal Welfare Reforms, Boyer offers new explanations for oscillations in Britain’s social policies and how these shaped worker well-being. The Poor Law’s increasing stinginess led skilled manual workers to adopt self-help strategies, but this was not a feasible option for low-skilled workers, many of whom continued to rely on the Poor Law into old age. In contrast, the Liberal Welfare Reforms were a major watershed, marking the end of seven decades of declining support for the needy. Concluding with the Beveridge Report and Labour’s social policies in the late 1940s, Boyer shows how the Liberal Welfare Reforms laid the foundations for a national social safety net.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA sweeping look at economic pressures after the Industrial Revolution, \u003ci\u003eThe Winding Road to the Welfare State\u003c\/i\u003e illustrates how British welfare policy waxed and waned over the course of a century.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49553420026129,"sku":"GOR013631897","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50360611307793,"sku":"CIN0691178739VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691178739.jpg?v=1751105697"},{"product_id":"why-did-europe-conquer-the-world-book-philip-t-hoffman-9780691139708","title":"Why Did Europe Conquer the World?","description":"Between 1492 and 1914, Europeans conquered 84 percent of the globe. But why did Europe establish global dominance, when for centuries the Chinese, Japanese, Ottomans, and South Asians were far more advanced? In Why Did Europe Conquer the World?, Philip Hoffman demonstrates that conventional explanations--such as geography, epidemic disease, and the Industrial Revolution--fail to provide answers. Arguing instead for the pivotal role of economic and political history, Hoffman shows that if certain variables had been different, Europe would have been eclipsed, and another power could have become master of the world. Hoffman sheds light on the two millennia of economic, political, and historical changes that set European states on a distinctive path of development, military rivalry, and war. This resulted in astonishingly rapid growth in Europe's military sector, and produced an insurmountable lead in gunpowder technology. The consequences determined which states established colonial empires or ran the slave trade, and even which economies were the first to industrialize. Debunking traditional arguments, Why Did Europe Conquer the World? reveals the startling reasons behind Europe's historic global supremacy.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49560176296209,"sku":"GOR007587512","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50361352356113,"sku":"CIN0691139709G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50525564567825,"sku":"GOR013212144","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51865156649233,"sku":"CIN0691139709VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53410759344401,"sku":"GOR008665628","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691139709.jpg?v=1751105617"},{"product_id":"farewell-to-alms-book-gregory-clark-9780691141282","title":"A Farewell to Alms","description":"Why are some parts of the world so rich and others so poor? Why did the Industrial Revolution occur in eighteenth-century England, and not at some other time, or in some other place? This title tackles these profound questions and suggests a fresh way in which culture explains the wealth, and the poverty, of nations.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49560907153681,"sku":"GOR004948449","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49728934773009,"sku":"NGR9780691141282","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49773449642257,"sku":"CIN0691141282VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50357516173585,"sku":"CIN0691141282A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50357518336273,"sku":"CIN0691141282G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50658409316625,"sku":"GOR014027008","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50777970999569,"sku":"GOR006883079","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005688381713,"sku":"NIN9780691141282","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53238955180305,"sku":"GOR007204005","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691141282.jpg?v=1751008719"},{"product_id":"power-and-plenty-book-ronald-findlay-9780691143279","title":"Power and Plenty","description":"International trade has shaped the modern world. This book examines the successive waves of globalization and 'deglobalization' that have occurred during the past thousand years, looking at the technological and political causes behind these long-term trends.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49561222938897,"sku":"GOR003903682","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49730253390097,"sku":"NGR9780691143279","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50469663441169,"sku":"CIN0691143277G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50503466713361,"sku":"GOR006719403","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50794595385617,"sku":"CIN0691143277VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005773578513,"sku":"NIN9780691143279","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51458004713745,"sku":"GOR010169721","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691143277.jpg?v=1751008725"},{"product_id":"european-economy-since-1945-book-barry-eichengreen-9780691138480","title":"The European Economy since 1945","description":"Over the second half of the twentieth century, the average European's buying power tripled, while working hours fell by a third. This work offers an account of the extraordinary development of Europe's economy since the end of World War II.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49563597078801,"sku":"GOR005959345","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49728589988113,"sku":"NGR9780691138480","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005693231377,"sku":"NIN9780691138480","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51504052797713,"sku":"GOR008642374","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52394838458641,"sku":"CIN0691138486VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52628336967953,"sku":"GOR009206756","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53306487832849,"sku":"CIN0691138486G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691138486.jpg?v=1750816638"},{"product_id":"farewell-to-alms-book-gregory-clark-9780691121352","title":"A Farewell to Alms","description":"Why are some parts of the world so rich and others so poor? Why did the Industrial Revolution - and the unprecedented economic growth that came with it - occur in eighteenth-century England, and not at some other time, or in some other place? This book tackles these questions and suggests away in which culture explains the wealth of nations.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49569139687697,"sku":"GOR003327590","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49967137751313,"sku":"GOR006803804","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50207894536465,"sku":"GOR010069788","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50284846088465,"sku":"CIN0691121354G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52104493629713,"sku":"CIN0691121354VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52165166432529,"sku":"GOR010639365","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691121354.jpg?v=1751199640"},{"product_id":"escape-from-rome-book-walter-scheidel-9780691172187","title":"Escape from Rome","description":"The gripping story of how the end of the Roman Empire was the beginning of the modern worldThe fall of the Roman Empire has long been considered one of the greatest disasters in history. But in this groundbreaking book, Walter Scheidel argues that Rome's dramatic collapse was actually the best thing that ever happened, clearing the path for Eur","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49583350645009,"sku":"GOR010106427","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49855496454417,"sku":"GOR010830293","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50139740471569,"sku":"CIN0691172188G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52509292036369,"sku":"CIN0691172188VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53362038276369,"sku":"GOR014877384","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691172188.jpg?v=1751361103"},{"product_id":"great-leveler-book-walter-scheidel-9780691183251","title":"The Great Leveler","description":"Are mass violence and catastrophes the only forces that can seriously decrease economic inequality? To judge by thousands of years of history, the answer is yes. Tracing the global history of inequality from the Stone Age to today, Walter Scheidel shows that it never dies peacefully. The Great Leveler is the first book to chart the crucial role of","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49606152749329,"sku":"GOR010119420","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49730641461521,"sku":"NGR9780691183251","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49808948232465,"sku":"CIN0691183252G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49870142538001,"sku":"GOR009924831","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50670028095761,"sku":"CIN0691183252VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50952944746769,"sku":"GOR010286869","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005670424849,"sku":"NIN9780691183251","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691183252.jpg?v=1751199762"},{"product_id":"rise-and-fall-of-american-growth-book-robert-j-gordon-9780691147727","title":"The Rise and Fall of American Growth","description":"In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, motor vehicles, air travel, and television transformed households and workplaces. But has that era of unprecedented growth come to an end? Weaving together a vivid narrative, historical anecdotes, and economic analysis, The Rise and Fall of American Growth challenges the view that economic growth will continue unabated, and demonstrates that the life-altering scale of innovations between 1870 and 1970 cannot be repeated. Gordon contends that the nation's productivity growth will be further held back by the headwinds of rising inequality, stagnating education, an aging population, and the rising debt of college students and the federal government, and that we must find new solutions. A critical voice in the most pressing debates of our time, The Rise and Fall of American Growth is at once a tribute to a century of radical change and a harbinger of tougher times to come.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49612216828177,"sku":"GOR008617834","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49708109496593,"sku":"CIN0691147728G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49966241317137,"sku":"GOR007716212","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50807333454097,"sku":"CIN0691147728VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":51857716117777,"sku":"CIN0691147728A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52109072367889,"sku":"GOR008706997","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691147728.jpg?v=1751136305"},{"product_id":"big-problem-of-small-change-book-thomas-j-sargent-9780691029320","title":"The Big Problem of Small Change","description":"Examines the evolution of Western European economies through the lens of one of the classic problems of monetary history - the recurring scarcity and depreciation of small change. This book tells the story of how monetary technologies, doctrines, and practices evolved from 1300 to 1850.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49643115348241,"sku":"GOR013498574","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51416096309521,"sku":"CIN0691029326VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691029326.jpg?v=1751445524"},{"product_id":"chosen-few-book-maristella-botticini-9780691144870","title":"The Chosen Few","description":"In 70 CE, the Jews were an agrarian and illiterate people living mostly in the Land of Israel and Mesopotamia. By 1492 the Jewish people had become a small group of literate urbanites specializing in crafts, trade, moneylending, and medicine in hundreds of places across the Old World, from Seville to Mangalore. What caused this radical change? The Chosen Few presents a new answer to this question by applying the lens of economic analysis to the key facts of fifteen formative centuries of Jewish history. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein offer a powerful new explanation of one of the most significant transformations in Jewish history while also providing fresh insights into the growing debate about the social and economic impact of religion.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49710384972049,"sku":"CIN0691144877VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51700380467473,"sku":"GOR009376787","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691144877.jpg?v=1751435615"},{"product_id":"roman-market-economy-book-peter-temin-9780691177946","title":"The Roman Market Economy","description":"The quality of life for ordinary Roman citizens at the height of the Roman Empire probably was better than that of any other large group of people living before the Industrial Revolution. The Roman Market Economy uses the tools of modern economics to show how trade, markets, and the Pax Romana were critical to ancient Rome's prosperity. Peter Temin, one of the world's foremost economic historians, argues that markets dominated the Roman economy. He traces how the Pax Romana encouraged trade around the Mediterranean, and how Roman law promoted commerce and banking. Temin shows that a reasonably vibrant market for wheat extended throughout the empire, and suggests that the Antonine Plague may have been responsible for turning the stable prices of the early empire into the persistent inflation of the late. He vividly describes how various markets operated in Roman times, from commodities and slaves to the buying and selling of land. Applying modern methods for evaluating economic growth to data culled from historical sources, Temin argues that Roman Italy in the second century was as prosperous as the Dutch Republic in its golden age of the seventeenth century. The Roman Market Economy reveals how economics can help us understand how the Roman Empire could have ruled seventy million people and endured for centuries.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49729613234449,"sku":"NGR9780691177946","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005704306961,"sku":"NIN9780691177946","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53134031847697,"sku":"CIN0691177945VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53203960234257,"sku":"GOR011153895","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691177945.jpg?v=1751450827"},{"product_id":"son-also-rises-book-gregory-clark-9780691168371","title":"The Son Also Rises","description":"How much of our fate is tied to the status of our parents and grandparents? How much does it influence our children? More than we wish to believe. While it has been argued that rigid class structures have eroded in favor of greater social equality, The Son Also Rises proves that movement on the social ladder has changed little over eight centuries. Using a novel technique--tracking family names over generations to measure social mobility across countries and periods--renowned economic historian Gregory Clark reveals that mobility rates are lower than conventionally estimated, do not vary across societies, and are resistant to social policies. Clark examines and compares surnames in such diverse cases as modern Sweden and Qing Dynasty China. He demonstrates how fate is determined by ancestry and that almost all societies have similarly low social mobility rates. Challenging popular assumptions about mobility and revealing the deeply entrenched force of inherited advantage, The Son Also Rises is sure to prompt intense debate for years to come.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49729748861201,"sku":"NGR9780691168371","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50173144695057,"sku":"CIN0691168377G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50896326951185,"sku":"GOR011968036","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005787144465,"sku":"NIN9780691168371","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51396049797393,"sku":"GOR008905323","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51416130257169,"sku":"CIN0691168377VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52388116758801,"sku":"GOR011813758","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691168377.jpg?v=1751008776"},{"product_id":"power-to-the-people-book-astrid-kander-9780691168227","title":"Power to the People","description":"Power to the People examines the varied but interconnected relationships between energy consumption and economic development in Europe over the last five centuries. It describes how the traditional energy economy of medieval and early modern Europe was marked by stable or falling per capita energy consumption, and how the First Industrial Revolutio","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49729817444625,"sku":"NGR9780691168227","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52736535101713,"sku":"NIN9780691168227","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691168229.jpg?v=1751447049"},{"product_id":"chosen-few-book-maristella-botticini-9780691163512","title":"The Chosen Few","description":"In 70 CE, the Jews were an agrarian and illiterate people living mostly in the Land of Israel and Mesopotamia. By 1492 the Jewish people had become a small group of literate urbanites specializing in crafts, trade, moneylending, and medicine in hundreds of places across the Old World, from Seville to Mangalore. What caused this radical change? The Chosen Few presents a new answer to this question by applying the lens of economic analysis to the key facts of fifteen formative centuries of Jewish history. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein offer a powerful new explanation of one of the most significant transformations in Jewish history while also providing fresh insights into the growing debate about the social and economic impact of religion.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49730046165265,"sku":"NGR9780691163512","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49916417376529,"sku":"CIN0691163510G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005630251281,"sku":"NIN9780691163512","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51317024456977,"sku":"GOR009814155","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691163510.jpg?v=1751168318"},{"product_id":"rise-and-fall-of-american-growth-book-robert-j-gordon-9780691175805","title":"The Rise and Fall of American Growth","description":"In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, motor vehicles, air travel, and television transformed households and workplaces. But has that era of unprecedented growth come to an end? Weaving together a vivid narrative, historical anecdotes, and economic analysis, The Rise and Fall of American Growth challenges the view that economic growth will continue unabated, and demonstrates that the life-altering scale of innovations between 1870 and 1970 cannot be repeated. Gordon contends that the nation's productivity growth will be further held back by the headwinds of rising inequality, stagnating education, an aging population, and the rising debt of college students and the federal government, and that we must find new solutions. A critical voice in the most pressing debates of our time, The Rise and Fall of American Growth is at once a tribute to a century of radical change and a harbinger of tougher times to come.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49730561147153,"sku":"NGR9780691175805","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49914396770577,"sku":"GOR009021029","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50121238675729,"sku":"CIN0691175802A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50160411771153,"sku":"CIN0691175802G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005781278993,"sku":"NIN9780691175805","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51694578303249,"sku":"CIN0691175802VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53129113895185,"sku":"GOR011663288","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53384755577105,"sku":"GOR013475279","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691175802.jpg?v=1751436016"},{"product_id":"going-the-distance-book-ron-harris-9780691150772","title":"Going the Distance","description":"A historical look at the early evolution of global trade and how this led to the creation and dominance of the European business corporationBefore the seventeenth century, trade across Eurasia was mostly conducted in short segments along the Silk Route and Indian Ocean. Business was organized in family firms, merchant networks, and state-owned","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49730692710673,"sku":"NGR9780691150772","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51842881421585,"sku":"CIN069115077XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/069115077X.jpg?v=1751136312"},{"product_id":"dark-matter-credit-book-philip-t-hoffman-9780691182179","title":"Dark Matter Credit","description":"How a vast network of shadow credit financed European growth long before the advent of bankingPrevailing wisdom dictates that, without banks, countries would be mired in poverty. Yet somehow much of Europe managed to grow rich long before the diffusion of banks. Dark Matter Credit draws on centuries of cleverly collected loan data from France t","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49730790457617,"sku":"NGR9780691182179","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50045170319633,"sku":"GOR009630728","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691182175.jpg?v=1750816731"},{"product_id":"escape-from-rome-book-walter-scheidel-9780691216737","title":"Escape from Rome","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe gripping story of how the end of the Roman Empire was the beginning of the modern world\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fall of the Roman Empire has long been considered one of the greatest disasters in history. But in this groundbreaking book, Walter Scheidel argues that Rome's dramatic collapse was actually the best thing that ever happened, clearing the path for Europe's economic rise and the creation of the modern age. Ranging across the entire premodern world, \u003ci\u003eEscape from Rome\u003c\/i\u003e offers new answers to some of the biggest questions in history: Why did the Roman Empire appear? Why did nothing like it ever return to Europe? And, above all, why did Europeans come to dominate the world? In an absorbing narrative that begins with ancient Rome but stretches far beyond it, from Byzantium to China and from Genghis Khan to Napoleon, Scheidel shows how the demise of Rome and the enduring failure of empire-building on European soil launched an economic transformation that changed the continent and ultimately the world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49738359832849,"sku":"NGR9780691216737","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49778211094801,"sku":"GOR011764968","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49889980612881,"sku":"CIN0691216738G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50332691693841,"sku":"CIN0691216738VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005727408401,"sku":"NIN9780691216737","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691216738.jpg?v=1751073803"},{"product_id":"plagues-upon-the-earth-book-kyle-harper-9780691192123","title":"Plagues Upon the Earth","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA sweeping germ’s-eye view of history from human origins to global pandemics\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePlagues Upon the Earth\u003c\/i\u003e is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity’s uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our evolutionary past, and why its growth is accelerated by technological progress. He shows that the story of disease is entangled with the history of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, and reveals the enduring effects of historical plagues in patterns of wealth, health, power, and inequality. He also tells the story of humanity’s escape from infectious disease—a triumph that makes life as we know it possible, yet destabilizes the environment and fosters new diseases.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePanoramic in scope, \u003ci\u003ePlagues Upon the Earth\u003c\/i\u003e traces the role of disease in the transition to farming, the spread of cities, the advance of transportation, and the stupendous increase in human population. Harper offers a new interpretation of humanity’s path to control over infectious disease—one where rising evolutionary threats constantly push back against human progress, and where the devastating effects of modernization contribute to the great divergence between societies. The book reminds us that human health is globally interdependent—and inseparable from the well-being of the planet itself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePutting the COVID-19 pandemic in perspective, \u003ci\u003ePlagues Upon the Earth\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of how we got here as a species, and it may help us decide where we want to go.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49739787403537,"sku":"NGR9780691192123","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50109798646033,"sku":"GOR012171318","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50170484261137,"sku":"CIN069119212XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50335273910545,"sku":"CIN069119212XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52449406648593,"sku":"GOR012565953","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53722721583377,"sku":"GOR015016506","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/069119212X.jpg?v=1750881007"},{"product_id":"decline-and-rise-of-democracy-book-david-stasavage-9780691228976","title":"The Decline and Rise of Democracy","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"One of the most important books on political regimes written in a generation.\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Steven Levitsky, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e–bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eHow Democracies Die\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA new understanding of how and why early democracy took hold, how modern democracy evolved, and what this history teaches us about the future\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHistorical accounts of democracy’s rise tend to focus on ancient Greece and pre-Renaissance Europe. \u003ci\u003eThe Decline and Rise of Democracy\u003c\/i\u003e draws from global evidence to show that the story is much richer—democratic practices were present in many places, at many other times, from the Americas before European conquest, to ancient Mesopotamia, to precolonial Africa. Delving into the prevalence of early democracy throughout the world, David Stasavage makes the case that understanding how and where these democracies flourished—and when and why they declined—can provide crucial information not just about the history of governance, but also about the ways modern democracies work and where they could manifest in the future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDrawing from examples spanning several millennia, Stasavage first considers why states developed either democratic or autocratic styles of governance and argues that early democracy tended to develop in small places with a weak state and, counterintuitively, simple technologies. When central state institutions (such as a tax bureaucracy) were absent—as in medieval Europe—rulers needed consent from their populace to govern. When central institutions were strong—as in China or the Middle East—consent was less necessary and autocracy more likely. He then explores the transition from early to modern democracy, which first took shape in England and then the United States, illustrating that modern democracy arose as an effort to combine popular control with a strong state over a large territory. Democracy has been an experiment that has unfolded over time and across the world—and its transformation is ongoing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmidst rising democratic anxieties, \u003ci\u003eThe Decline and Rise of Democracy\u003c\/i\u003e widens the historical lens on the growth of political institutions and offers surprising lessons for all who care about governance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49739885117713,"sku":"NGR9780691228976","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005826892049,"sku":"NIN9780691228976","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51104521552145,"sku":"GOR014177169","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52819820642577,"sku":"CIN0691228973G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53146619937041,"sku":"GOR014774317","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691228973.jpg?v=1750848020"},{"product_id":"european-guilds-book-sheilagh-ogilvie-9780691217024","title":"The European Guilds","description":"A comprehensive analysis of European craft guilds through eight centuries of economic historyGuilds ruled many crafts and trades from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution, and have always attracted debate and controversy. They were sometimes viewed as efficient institutions that guaranteed quality and skills. But they also excluded comp","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49742572716305,"sku":"NGR9780691217024","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005810606353,"sku":"NIN9780691217024","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691217025.jpg?v=1750700323"},{"product_id":"pliny-s-roman-economy-book-richard-saller-9780691229546","title":"Pliny's Roman Economy","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first comprehensive study of Pliny the Elder’s economic thought—and its implications for understanding the Roman Empire’s constrained innovation and economic growth\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe elder Pliny’s \u003ci\u003eNatural History\u003c\/i\u003e (77 CE), an astonishing compilation of 20,000 “things worth knowing,” was avowedly intended to be a repository of ancient Mediterranean knowledge for the use of craftsmen and farmers, but this 37-book, 400,000-word work was too expensive, unwieldy, and impractically organized to be of utilitarian value. Yet, as Richard Saller shows, the \u003ci\u003eNatural History\u003c\/i\u003e offers more insights into Roman ideas about economic growth than any other ancient source. \u003ci\u003ePliny’s Roman Economy\u003c\/i\u003e is the first comprehensive study of Pliny’s economic thought and its implications for understanding the economy of the Roman Empire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs Saller reveals, Pliny sometimes anticipates modern economic theory, while at other times his ideas suggest why Rome produced very few major inventions that resulted in sustained economic growth. On one hand, Pliny believed that new knowledge came by accident or divine intervention, not by human initiative; research and development was a foreign concept. When he lists 136 great inventions, they are mostly prehistoric and don’t include a single one from Rome—offering a commentary on Roman innovation and displaying a reverence for the past that contrasts with the attitudes of the eighteenth-century encyclopedists credited with contributing to the Industrial Revolution. On the other hand, Pliny shrewdly recognized that Rome’s lack of competition from other states suppressed incentives for innovation. Pliny’s understanding should be noted because, as Saller shows, recent efforts to use scientific evidence about the ancient climate to measure the Roman economy are flawed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy exploring Pliny’s ideas about discovery, innovation, and growth, \u003ci\u003ePliny’s Roman Economy\u003c\/i\u003e makes an important new contribution to the ongoing debate about economic growth in ancient Rome.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49743367864593,"sku":"NGR9780691229546","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53510591054097,"sku":"CIN0691229546G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691229546.jpg?v=1750816780"},{"product_id":"corporation-and-the-twentieth-century-book-richard-n-langlois-9780691246987","title":"The Corporation and the Twentieth Century","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA definitive reframing of the economic, institutional, and intellectual history of the managerial era\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe twentieth century was the managerial century in the United States. An organizational transformation, from entrepreneurial to managerial capitalism, brought forth what became a dominant narrative: that administrative coordination by trained professional managers is essential to the efficient running of organizations both public and private. And yet if managerialism was the apotheosis of administrative efficiency, why did both its practice and the accompanying narrative lie in ruins by the end of the century? In \u003ci\u003eThe Corporation and the Twentieth Century\u003c\/i\u003e, Richard Langlois offers an alternative version: a comprehensive and nuanced reframing and reassessment of the economic, institutional, and intellectual history of the managerial era.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLanglois argues that managerialism rose to prominence not because of its inherent superiority but because of its contingent value in a young and rapidly developing American economy. The structures of managerialism solidified their dominance only because the century’s great catastrophes of war, depression, and war again superseded markets, scrambled relative prices, and weakened market-supporting institutions. By the end of the twentieth century, Langlois writes, these market-supporting institutions had reemerged to shift advantage toward entrepreneurial and market-driven modes of organization.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis magisterial new account of the rise and fall of managerialism holds significant implications for contemporary debates about industrial and antitrust policies and the role of the corporation in the twenty-first century.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49743672049937,"sku":"NGR9780691246987","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50468564992273,"sku":"CIN069124698XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50607414673681,"sku":"GOR014011910","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/069124698X.jpg?v=1751104970"},{"product_id":"plagues-upon-the-earth-book-kyle-harper-9780691230597","title":"Plagues Upon the Earth","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA sweeping germ’s-eye view of history from human origins to global pandemics\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePlagues Upon the Earth\u003c\/i\u003e is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity’s uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our evolutionary past, and why its growth is accelerated by technological progress. He shows that the story of disease is entangled with the history of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, and reveals the enduring effects of historical plagues in patterns of wealth, health, power, and inequality. He also tells the story of humanity’s escape from infectious disease—a triumph that makes life as we know it possible, yet destabilizes the environment and fosters new diseases.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePanoramic in scope, \u003ci\u003ePlagues Upon the Earth\u003c\/i\u003e traces the role of disease in the transition to farming, the spread of cities, the advance of transportation, and the stupendous increase in human population. Harper offers a new interpretation of humanity’s path to control over infectious disease—one where rising evolutionary threats constantly push back against human progress, and where the devastating effects of modernization contribute to the great divergence between societies. The book reminds us that human health is globally interdependent—and inseparable from the well-being of the planet itself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePutting the COVID-19 pandemic in perspective, \u003ci\u003ePlagues Upon the Earth\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of how we got here as a species, and it may help us decide where we want to go.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49747084017937,"sku":"NGR9780691230597","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49850228965649,"sku":"CIN0691230595G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50481390420241,"sku":"GOR013277693","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005818306833,"sku":"NIN9780691230597","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51695204892945,"sku":"CIN0691230595VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52778330784017,"sku":"GOR014618478","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691230595.jpg?v=1751433748"},{"product_id":"pliny-s-roman-economy-book-richard-saller-9780691229560","title":"Pliny's Roman Economy","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first comprehensive study of Pliny the Elder’s economic thought—and its implications for understanding the Roman Empire’s constrained innovation and economic growth\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe elder Pliny’s \u003ci\u003eNatural History\u003c\/i\u003e (77 CE), an astonishing compilation of 20,000 “things worth knowing,” was avowedly intended to be a repository of ancient Mediterranean knowledge for the use of craftsmen and farmers, but this 37-book, 400,000-word work was too expensive, unwieldy, and impractically organized to be of utilitarian value. Yet, as Richard Saller shows, the \u003ci\u003eNatural History\u003c\/i\u003e offers more insights into Roman ideas about economic growth than any other ancient source. \u003ci\u003ePliny’s Roman Economy\u003c\/i\u003e is the first comprehensive study of Pliny’s economic thought and its implications for understanding the economy of the Roman Empire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs Saller reveals, Pliny sometimes anticipates modern economic theory, while at other times his ideas suggest why Rome produced very few major inventions that resulted in sustained economic growth. On one hand, Pliny believed that new knowledge came by accident or divine intervention, not by human initiative; research and development was a foreign concept. When he lists 136 great inventions, they are mostly prehistoric and don’t include a single one from Rome—offering a commentary on Roman innovation and displaying a reverence for the past that contrasts with the attitudes of the eighteenth-century encyclopedists credited with contributing to the Industrial Revolution. On the other hand, Pliny shrewdly recognized that Rome’s lack of competition from other states suppressed incentives for innovation. Pliny’s understanding should be noted because, as Saller shows, recent efforts to use scientific evidence about the ancient climate to measure the Roman economy are flawed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy exploring Pliny’s ideas about discovery, innovation, and growth, \u003ci\u003ePliny’s Roman Economy\u003c\/i\u003e makes an important new contribution to the ongoing debate about economic growth in ancient Rome.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49749863137553,"sku":"NGR9780691229560","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005767057681,"sku":"NIN9780691229560","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691229562.jpg?v=1750944663"},{"product_id":"wealth-of-a-nation-book-geoffrey-m-hodgson-9780691247014","title":"The Wealth of a Nation","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow the development of legal and financial institutions transformed Britain into the world’s first capitalist country\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eModern capitalism emerged in England in the eighteenth century and ushered in the Industrial Revolution, though scholars have long debated why. Some attribute the causes to technological change while others point to the Protestant ethic, liberal ideas, and cultural change. \u003ci\u003eThe Wealth of a Nation\u003c\/i\u003e reveals the crucial developments in legal and financial institutions in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that help to explain this dramatic transformation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOffering new perspectives on the early history of capitalism, Geoffrey Hodgson describes how, for the emerging British economy, pressures from without were as important as evolution from within. He shows how intensive military conflicts overseas forced the state to undertake major financial, administrative, legal, and political reforms. The resulting institutional changes not only bolstered the British war machine—they fostered the Industrial Revolution. Hodgson traces how Britain’s war capitalism led to an expansion of its empire and a staggering increase in the slave trade, and how the institutional innovations that radically transformed the British economy were copied and adapted by countries around the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA landmark work of scholarship, \u003ci\u003eThe Wealth of a Nation\u003c\/i\u003e sheds light on how external factors such as war gave rise to institutional arrangements that facilitated finance, banking, and investment, and offers a conceptual framework for further research into the origins and consolidation of capitalism in England.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49750195208465,"sku":"NGR9780691247014","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51388843294993,"sku":"GOR014250460","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691247013.jpg?v=1751451697"},{"product_id":"pioneers-of-capitalism-book-maarten-prak-9780691229874","title":"Pioneers of Capitalism","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow medieval Dutch society laid the foundations for modern capitalism\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Netherlands was one of the pioneers of capitalism in the Middle Ages, giving rise to the spectacular Dutch Golden Age while ushering in an era of unprecedented, long-term economic growth. \u003ci\u003ePioneers of Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e examines the formal and informal institutions in the Netherlands that made this economic miracle possible, providing a groundbreaking new history of the emergence and early development of capitalism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDrawing on the latest quantitative theories in economic research, Maarten Prak and Jan Luiten van Zanden show how Dutch cities, corporations, guilds, commons, and other private and semipublic organizations provided safeguards for market transactions in the state’s absence. Informal institutions developed in the Netherlands long before the state created public safeguards for economic activity. Prak and van Zanden argue that, in the Netherlands itself, capitalism emerged within a robust civil society that constrained and counterbalanced its centrifugal forces, but that an unrestrained capitalism ruled in the overseas territories. Rather than collapsing under unrestricted greed, the Dutch economy flourished, but prosperity at home came at the price of slavery and other dire consequences for people outside Europe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePioneers of Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e offers a panoramic account of the early history of capitalism, revealing how a small region of medieval Europe transformed itself into a powerhouse of sustained economic growth, and changed the world in the process.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49780307689745,"sku":"NGR9780691229874","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51396161536273,"sku":"GOR012772067","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53456310075665,"sku":"CIN0691229872G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691229872.jpg?v=1751295390"},{"product_id":"unequal-gains-book-peter-h-lindert-9780691178271","title":"Unequal Gains","description":"Unequal Gains offers a radically new understanding of the economic evolution of the United States, providing a complete picture of the uneven progress of America from colonial times to today.  While other economic historians base their accounts on American wealth, Peter Lindert and Jeffrey Williamson focus instead on income--and the result is a bold reassessment of the American economic experience. America has been exceptional in its rising inequality after an egalitarian start, but not in its long-run growth.  America had already achieved world income leadership by 1700, not just in the twentieth century as is commonly thought. Long before independence, American colonists enjoyed higher living standards than Britain--and America's income advantage today is no greater than it was three hundred years ago. But that advantage was lost during the Revolution, lost again during the Civil War, and lost a third time during the Great Depression, though it was regained after each crisis.\nIn addition, Lindert and Williamson show how income inequality among Americans rose steeply in two great waves--from 1774 to 1860 and from the 1970s to today--rising more than in any other wealthy nation in the world. Unequal Gains also demonstrates how the widening income gaps have always touched every social group, from the richest to the poorest. The book sheds critical light on the forces that shaped American income history, and situates that history in a broad global context.  Economic writing at its most stimulating, Unequal Gains provides a vitally needed perspective on who has benefited most from American growth, and why.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49788222144785,"sku":"CIN0691178275VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005698736401,"sku":"NIN9780691178271","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51412788052241,"sku":"GOR014265299","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53682200838417,"sku":"CIN0691178275G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691178275.jpg?v=1750743999"},{"product_id":"great-divergence-book-kenneth-pomeranz-9780691090108","title":"The Great Divergence","description":"Offers an insight into one of the classic questions of history: why did sustained industrial growth begin in Northwest Europe? This book shows, as recently as 1750, parallels between these two parts of the world were very high in life expectancy, consumption, product and factor markets, and the strategies of households.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49797070979345,"sku":"GOR002743267","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50114398355729,"sku":"CIN0691090106A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50296205771025,"sku":"CIN0691090106VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50423779098897,"sku":"CIN0691090106G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691090106.jpg?v=1750743866"},{"product_id":"pioneers-of-capitalism-book-maarten-prak-9780691242330","title":"Pioneers of Capitalism","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow medieval Dutch society laid the foundations for modern capitalism\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Netherlands was one of the pioneers of capitalism in the Middle Ages, giving rise to the spectacular Dutch Golden Age while ushering in an era of unprecedented, long-term economic growth. \u003ci\u003ePioneers of Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e examines the formal and informal institutions in the Netherlands that made this economic miracle possible, providing a groundbreaking new history of the emergence and early development of capitalism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDrawing on the latest quantitative theories in economic research, Maarten Prak and Jan Luiten van Zanden show how Dutch cities, corporations, guilds, commons, and other private and semipublic organizations provided safeguards for market transactions in the state’s absence. Informal institutions developed in the Netherlands long before the state created public safeguards for economic activity. Prak and van Zanden argue that, in the Netherlands itself, capitalism emerged within a robust civil society that constrained and counterbalanced its centrifugal forces, but that an unrestrained capitalism ruled in the overseas territories. Rather than collapsing under unrestricted greed, the Dutch economy flourished, but prosperity at home came at the price of slavery and other dire consequences for people outside Europe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePioneers of Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e offers a panoramic account of the early history of capitalism, revealing how a small region of medieval Europe transformed itself into a powerhouse of sustained economic growth, and changed the world in the process.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49898744774929,"sku":"NGR9780691242330","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005797662993,"sku":"NIN9780691242330","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52969844670737,"sku":"CIN069124233XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/069124233X.jpg?v=1751437326"},{"product_id":"farm-to-factory-book-robert-c-allen-9780691144313","title":"Farm to Factory","description":"To say that history's greatest economic experiment - Soviet communism - was also its greatest economic failure is to say what many consider obvious. This book argues that the USSR was one of the most successful developing economies of the twentieth century.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49940514504977,"sku":"CIN0691144311G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005585883409,"sku":"NIN9780691144313","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51853187481873,"sku":"GOR009438224","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51919888253201,"sku":"CIN0691144311VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691144311.jpg?v=1750743934"},{"product_id":"fragile-by-design-book-charles-w-calomiris-9780691155241","title":"Fragile by Design","description":"Why are banking systems unstable in so many countries--but not in others? The United States has had twelve systemic banking crises since 1840, while Canada has had none. The banking systems of Mexico and Brazil have not only been crisis prone but have provided miniscule amounts of credit to business enterprises and households. Analyzing the political and banking history of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil through several centuries, Fragile by Design demonstrates that chronic banking crises and scarce credit are not accidents. Calomiris and Haber combine political history and economics to examine how coalitions of politicians, bankers, and other interest groups form, why they endure, and how they generate policies that determine who gets to be a banker, who has access to credit, and who pays for bank bailouts and rescues. Fragile by Design is a revealing exploration of the ways that politics inevitably intrudes into bank regulation.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49952382976273,"sku":"GOR008969222","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50313181626641,"sku":"GOR006985227","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50654000414993,"sku":"CIN0691155240VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50936035442961,"sku":"CIN0691155240G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53728074629393,"sku":"GOR009978909","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691155240.jpg?v=1751394326"},{"product_id":"states-of-credit-book-david-stasavage-9780691166735","title":"States of Credit","description":"States of Credit provides the first comprehensive look at the joint development of representative assemblies and public borrowing in Europe during the medieval and early modern eras. In this pioneering book, David Stasavage argues that unique advances in political representation allowed certain European states to gain early and advantageous access","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49955201679633,"sku":"CIN0691166730G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005672161553,"sku":"NIN9780691166735","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691166730.jpg?v=1751168327"},{"product_id":"power-over-peoples-book-daniel-r-headrick-9780691154329","title":"Power over Peoples","description":"For six hundred years, the nations of Europe and North America have periodically attempted to coerce, invade, or conquer other societies. They have relied on their superior technology to do so, yet these technologies have not always guaranteed success. This title examines Western imperialism's complex relationship with technology.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50046555128081,"sku":"CIN0691154325G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50359577411857,"sku":"CIN0691154325A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005779214609,"sku":"NIN9780691154329","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691154325.jpg?v=1751073700"},{"product_id":"son-also-rises-book-gregory-clark-9780691162546","title":"The Son Also Rises","description":"How much of our fate is tied to the status of our parents and grandparents? How much does it influence our children? More than we wish to believe. While it has been argued that rigid class structures have eroded in favor of greater social equality, The Son Also Rises proves that movement on the social ladder has changed little over eight centuries. Using a novel technique--tracking family names over generations to measure social mobility across countries and periods--renowned economic historian Gregory Clark reveals that mobility rates are lower than conventionally estimated, do not vary across societies, and are resistant to social policies. Clark examines and compares surnames in such diverse cases as modern Sweden and Qing Dynasty China. He demonstrates how fate is determined by ancestry and that almost all societies have similarly low social mobility rates. Challenging popular assumptions about mobility and revealing the deeply entrenched force of inherited advantage, The Son Also Rises is sure to prompt intense debate for years to come.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50113750106385,"sku":"CIN0691162549G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50324948910353,"sku":"CIN0691162549VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50359954997521,"sku":"CIN0691162549A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50445044318481,"sku":"GOR006476718","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691162549.jpg?v=1751231282"},{"product_id":"understanding-the-process-of-economic-change-book-douglass-c-north-9780691118055","title":"Understanding the Process of Economic Change","description":"Develops a way of understanding the process by which economies change. This book explains how different societies arrive at the institutional infrastructure that determines their economic trajectories. It argues that economic change depends on 'adaptive efficiency,' a society's effectiveness in creating institutions that are productive and stable.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50144166805777,"sku":"CIN0691118051VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50731749114129,"sku":"GOR002470119","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51150718861585,"sku":"CIN0691118051G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691118051.jpg?v=1751361001"},{"product_id":"feeding-the-world-book-giovanni-federico-9780691138534","title":"Feeding the World","description":"In the last two centuries, agriculture has been an outstanding, if somewhat neglected, success story. Agriculture has fed an ever-growing population with an increasing variety of products at falling prices, even as it has released a growing number of workers to the rest of the economy. This book, a comprehensive history of world agriculture during this period, explains how these feats were accomplished. Feeding the World synthesizes two hundred years of agricultural development throughout the world, providing all essential data and extensive references to the literature. It covers, systematically, all the factors that have affected agricultural performance: environment, accumulation of inputs, technical progress, institutional change, commercialization, agricultural policies, and more. The last chapter discusses the contribution of agriculture to modern economic growth. The book is global in its reach and analysis, and represents a grand synthesis of an enormous topic.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50178560098577,"sku":"CIN0691138532G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005682778385,"sku":"NIN9780691138534","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51459593928977,"sku":"GOR014288256","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691138532.jpg?v=1751423076"},{"product_id":"power-and-plenty-book-ronald-findlay-9780691118543","title":"Power and Plenty","description":"International trade has shaped the modern world, yet until now no single book has been available for both economists and general readers that traces the history of the international economy from its earliest beginnings to the present day. Power and Plenty fills this gap, providing the first full account of world trade and development over the course of the last millennium. Ronald Findlay and Kevin O'Rourke examine the successive waves of globalization and \"deglobalization\" that have occurred during the past thousand years, looking closely at the technological and political causes behind these long-term trends. They show how the expansion and contraction of the world economy has been directly tied to the two-way interplay of trade and geopolitics, and how war and peace have been critical determinants of international trade over the very long run.The story they tell is sweeping in scope, one that links the emergence of the Western economies with economic and political developments throughout Eurasia centuries ago.\nDrawing extensively upon empirical evidence and informing their systematic analysis with insights from contemporary economic theory, Findlay and O'Rourke demonstrate the close interrelationships of trade and warfare, the mutual interdependence of the world's different regions, and the crucial role these factors have played in explaining modern economic growth. \"Power and Plenty\" is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the origins of today's international economy, the forces that continue to shape it, and the economic and political challenges confronting policymakers in the twenty-first century.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50270922080529,"sku":"CIN069111854XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50472059535633,"sku":"GOR005206987","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52817096573201,"sku":"CIN069111854XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/069111854X.jpg?v=1751295206"},{"product_id":"black-47-and-beyond-book-cormac-grda-9780691070155","title":"Black '47 and Beyond","description":"The Irish famine peaked in Black '47, but it brought misery and increased mortality to Ireland for several years. This title presents the Great Irish Famine from a variety of perspectives. It concentrates on fresh insights available through interdisciplinary and comparative methods. It highlights several economic and sociological features.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50291097305361,"sku":"CIN0691070156G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50407100547345,"sku":"GOR013936534","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":50730722754833,"sku":"NGR9780691070155","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51005718036753,"sku":"NIN9780691070155","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691070156.jpg?v=1750847821"},{"product_id":"european-guilds-book-sheilagh-ogilvie-9780691137544","title":"The European Guilds","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA comprehensive analysis of European craft guilds through eight centuries of economic history\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGuilds ruled many crafts and trades from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution, and have always attracted debate and controversy. They were sometimes viewed as efficient institutions that guaranteed quality and skills. But they also excluded competitors, manipulated markets, and blocked innovations. Did the benefits of guilds outweigh their costs? Analyzing thousands of guilds that dominated European economies from 1000 to 1880, \u003ci\u003eThe European Guilds\u003c\/i\u003e uses vivid examples and clear economic reasoning to answer that question.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSheilagh Ogilvie’s book features the voices of honourable guild masters, underpaid journeymen, exploited apprentices, shady officials, and outraged customers, and follows the stories of the “vile encroachers”—women, migrants, Jews, gypsies, bastards, and many others—desperate to work but hunted down by the guilds as illicit competitors. She investigates the benefits of guilds but also shines a light on their dark side. Guilds sometimes provided important services, but they also manipulated markets to profit their members. They regulated quality but prevented poor consumers from buying goods cheaply. They fostered work skills but denied apprenticeships to outsiders. They transmitted useful techniques but blocked innovations that posed a threat. Guilds existed widely not because they corrected market failures or served the common good but because they benefited two powerful groups—guild members and political elites.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eExploring guilds’ inner workings across eight centuries, \u003ci\u003eThe European Guilds\u003c\/i\u003e shows how privileged institutions and exclusive networks shape the wider economy—for good or ill.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50322803458321,"sku":"CIN0691137544G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53375564415249,"sku":"CIN0691137544VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691137544.jpg?v=1751327243"},{"product_id":"european-economy-since-1945-book-barry-eichengreen-9780691127101","title":"The European Economy since 1945","description":"In 1945, many Europeans still heated with coal, cooled their food with ice, and lacked indoor plumbing. This book presents an account of the extraordinary development of Europe's economy since the end of World War II. It argues that the continent's history has been critical to its economic performance.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50357128921361,"sku":"CIN0691127107G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51291624309009,"sku":"GOR002514666","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51333431984401,"sku":"CIN0691127107VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691127107.jpg?v=1750880887"},{"product_id":"creating-wine-book-james-simpson-9780691136035","title":"Creating Wine","description":"Traces the economic and historical forces that gave rise to very distinctive regional approaches to creating wine. This book includes chapters on Europe's cheap commodity wine industry; the markets for sherry, port, claret, and champagne; and, the wine industries in California, Australia, and Argentina.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50357340471569,"sku":"CIN0691136033G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52857277514001,"sku":"GOR006293722","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691136033.jpg?v=1751394289"},{"product_id":"evolution-of-a-nation-book-daniel-berkowitz-9780691136042","title":"The Evolution of a Nation","description":"Based on evidence about the development of the American states from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth century, this book documents the mechanisms through which geographical and historical conditions - such as climate, access to water transportation, and early legal systems - impacted political and judicial institutions and economic growth.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50357346533649,"sku":"CIN0691136041G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691136041.jpg?v=1751295234"},{"product_id":"power-over-peoples-book-daniel-r-headrick-9780691139333","title":"Power over Peoples","description":"For six hundred years, the nations of Europe and North America have periodically attempted to coerce, invade, or conquer other societies. This title examines Western imperialism's complex relationship with technology, from the first Portuguese ships that ventured down the coast of Africa in the 1430s to America's conflicts in the Middle East.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50357455159569,"sku":"CIN0691139334A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50357459124497,"sku":"CIN0691139334G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53067852841233,"sku":"GOR010453805","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53611411964177,"sku":"NIN9780691139333","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691139334.jpg?v=1751199679"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/the-princeton-economic-history-of-the-western-world-book-series.oembed?page=4","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}