Mokyr: European Progress Was Driven by Fragmentation and Intellectual Competition
Joel Mokyr · a16z Podcast | Knowledge Builds Technology and Technology Builds Knowledge -- with Joel Mokyr · Jan 2, 2019 · at 8:59
Economic historian Joel Mokyr explains on the a16z Podcast how political fragmentation and competition among European cities and states fostered economic and scientific breakthroughs.
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“What made progress possible in this market for ideas is that it was a competitive market, and one thing economists know, competitive markets, by and large, work better than uncompetitive markets, and what is critical in understanding About the European system is how competitive it was. There are literally scores of countries and states and cities that compete with one another. Competition may not be much fun for the people engaged in it, but it produces the results.”
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