Alms Watch 2007 2008

2008-03-12 · Original WordPress address

• Robert A. Margo says,

  So, in the end, should you read A Farewell to Alms? If you are into Big Think as a consumer or producer, the answer is a definite "yes" — especially if you are a producer (trust me, you will need to prepare a response to Clark, if you haven't already). Even if, in the end, you are like me — you don't care for Big Think but you have graduate students to worry about — the answer is still "yes". Just make sure that your students realize that the scholarly behaviors they should be emulating are the virtues — patience, hard work and discipline — that produced the articles underlying this book in the first place.

  The review contains a good summary of the book for those of you who have yet to read it. BTW, one of his big complaints is he doesn't like the "tone" of the book. Booooring.
• Arnold Kling is generally more receptive to Clark's culture story, but wants institutions to play a bigger role in the story of development. Booooring.