Chicago Fog’s political economy writing explores the fragile inheritance of liberal democratic capitalism: markets, institutions, growth, human capital, stagnation, and the political temptations that threaten prosperity.
This reading path is for readers interested in classical economics, liberalism, economic history, political institutions, and the future of free societies.
Start Here
- Opposing the Nihilistic War on Classical Economics – A flagship essay on how both political parties have drifted away from the basic tradeoffs and constraints that made liberal democratic capitalism work.
- How the World Became Rich – A review of Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin on institutions, growth, political development, and the historical escape from poverty.
- The Classical School – A review of Callum Williams on the thinkers who built political economy and shaped modern economic thought.
- Slouching Towards Economic History – A review essay on J. Bradford DeLong, twentieth-century economic growth, and the political imagination of progress.
- Why Nations Fail – A review of Acemoglu and Robinson on institutions, power, prosperity, poverty, and the fragility of liberal order.
- The Decadent Society – A review of Ross Douthat on stagnation, repetition, sterility, and the anxieties of modern prosperity.
Related Essays
- Stagnant Real Income Caused by Stagnant Human Capital – An older essay on wages, human capital, and the painful convergence of developed and emerging economies.
- Sentimentality Is Not Ideology – A reflection on classical liberalism, democracy, and political temperament.
- Learned Optimism: Liberalism, Human Rights, and American Progress – A historically minded essay on liberalism, pessimism, and the possibility of progress.
For more essays in this vein, visit the Commentary archive.