Archive for Stephen Davies
Stephen Davies is a program officer with the Institute for Humane Studies.i>
The Great Horse-Manure Crisis of 1894
Stephen Davies is a senior lecturer in history at Manchester Metropolitan University in England.
We commonly read or hear reports to the effect that “If trend X continues, the result will be disaster.” The subject can be almost anything, but the pattern of these stories is identical. These reports take a current trend and extrapolate it [...]
Would the Poor Go Barefoot with a Private Shoe Industry?
It is said that while we may rely on private initiative to supply “nonessentials,” some things are so important to a decent life that we cannot trust the vagaries of the competitive market. Some people would not get the vital product or service. The only solution, supposedly, is government provision to all, often free of [...]
1May2004 | Stephen Davies | 0 comments | ContinuedFrom Pennsylvania to Verdun: Friedrich List and the Origins of World War I
Steven Davies is a senior lecturer in history at Manchester Metropolitan University in England.
World War I, or the “Great War” (as most Europeans still call it), was one of the biggest disasters in human history. It not only killed and maimed millions, the cream of a generation, it also destroyed the liberal, cosmopolitan system that [...]
Our Economic Past ‑ China’s Historic Error
Stephen Davies is a senior lecturer in history at ManchesterMetropolitanUniversity in England.
Last time I wrote about the dynamic and innovative economy of Song China. Had China continued to develop as it did under that dynasty we would undoubtedly be talking now of “the Industrial Revolution of the fourteenth century.” However, this did not happen. Instead [...]
China’s Forgotten Industrial Revolution
Stephen Davies is a senior lecturer in history at Manchester Metropolitan University in England.
We live in a world that has been shaped by a process that began some 250 years ago in northwestern Europe. We often call it the Industrial Revolution because one of its most dramatic features was the appearance of industrial manufacture [...]
Our Economic Past Ideas and the Abolition of Slavery
The history of slavery is a subject of great interest to contemporary historians. The intense interest it evokes today is partly a consequence of one huge reality: slavery has been a feature of almost every historical epoch except for the last 200 years. So the big question is, Why and how did an institution so [...]
1Dec2002 | Stephen Davies | 0 comments | ContinuedDoes Government Always Have to Grow?
One of the benefits of historical knowledge is that it brings perspective. Things that seem obvious look quite different when you realize that they are of recent origin. Things that seem inevitable do not appear so when you look at their past. One of the best examples of this is the size of modern government. [...]
1Sep2002 | Stephen Davies | 2 comments | ContinuedLessons of History: The Great Irish Famine
Stephen Davies is a senior lecturer in history at Manchester Metropolitan University, England.
History is a subject that often arouses strong emotions. What seems to some people to be a topic of limited academic interest is for others the source of deeply held and passionate feelings. The task of the historian is to try to [...]
Spencer’s Law: Another Reason Not to Worry
Stephen Davies is a senior lecturer in history at Manchester Metropolitan University, England.
One of the constant themes of today’s media is crisis and panic. Everywhere we look we are told there is some dreadful social problem, a threat to all that is good and true. Moreover, it is getting worse and will bring [...]
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The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy–If We Let it Happen
By Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter J. Tanous
