Description
Book SynopsisStudents of history, politics, economic change, social hierarchy, and even Fascism will view this book as provocative and indispensable. It illuminates how plagues, blockades, migrations, and such world-changing innovations as the invention of printing precipitate political and social revolutions in some societies but peaceful adaptation in others.
Trade Review'From the pandemic-induced shocks to the labor supply, to electoral support for right-wing populists, to war-related malnutrition, this historical work seems 'ripped from the headlines.' In fact, it is the culmination of an idea the author advanced decades ago in Commerce and Coalitions. In demonstrating how political action can be understood as one possible response to economic shocks, Rogowski has, once again, provided the closest thing political economy has to a unifying theory.' William Roberts Clark, Texas A&M University
'As the world reels from crippling supply shocks, this book could not be more timely. In it, Rogowski explores how unforeseen events can cause sudden and significant disruptions to economic and political life … a must-read for anyone seeking a better understanding of the complex dynamics of supply shocks and their impacts on society.' Stephanie Rickard, London School of Economics
'Ranging from the Black Death to World War One, with many stops in between, Rogowski analyzes how major events worked their way through economics and politics. Full of important lessons for a world newly sensitive to the importance of reliable sources of supply, Shocking Contrasts will be read with great benefit by anyone interested in the interaction of technology, the economy, and politics in modern societies.' Jeffry Frieden, Harvard University
Table of ContentsPreface and acknowledgments; 1. How supply shocks arise and why political responses to them vary; 2. Who adjusts to a supply shock and who resists it: three determining factors; 3. Why a technological solution does, or does not, emerge; 4. Exogenous loss of labor: the black death in fourteenth century Europe; 5. Exogenous gain of labor: railroads, reproduction and revolution: the Russian population explosion between 1850 and 1914; 6. Exogenous loss of land: blockade, hunger and the Nazi pursuit of Lebensraum; 7. Exogenous increase of human capital: French Huguenots in German cities and principalities, 1685-1715; 8. When the endogenous becomes exogenous: the printing press as a multiplier of human capital; 9. Conclusion: the role of other factors, including institutions, ideas and human agency.
