Conférence - Joel Mokyr : The Market for Ideas: then and now

Philippe Aghion

Économie des institutions, de l'innovation et de la croissance

Collège de France

Année 2025-2026

The Longue Durée: Economic History and the Rise of Prosperity in the Modern Age

Conférence - Joel Mokyr : The Market for Ideas: then and now

Joel Mokyr

Northwestern University

Résumé

This lecture asks whether Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) have played an important role in economic development and technological progress and to what extent it has held back growth in the past. The answers, it turns, out are far more nuanced and complex than much of the literature suggests, and that much modern science and technology have deep religious origins.