In this Smart Talk video series, Andrew Mazzone interviews Dr. Gregory Clark and discuss unequal societies. This is an interview with Dr. Gregory Clark, UC Davis, Professor of Economics, Department Chair
Dr. Clark is an editor of the European Review of Economic History, chair of the steering committee of the All-UC Group in Economic History, and a Research Associate of the Center for Poverty Research at Davis.
- The institutional basis of the industrial revolution has been set in place several thousands years earlier. What happened was that people were changing not just culturally but also genetically and becoming different economic agents. People were becoming more patient, less violent, more cooperative, and harder workers. This was a general force occurring in stable pre-industrial societies. This was evident in England and other Northern European societies. As a result, these places were becoming futile grounds for economic growth.
- After the industrial revolution, the successes of nations was determined on how good their productivity was and how efficient their use of knowledge was. Factors such as capital and land became unimportant moving into the 20th century.
-America has had higher income than other societies because people work harder, by putting in more hours. One advantage that America has is that it is pulling in from all over the globe the most talented people coming from a whole variety of societies. This, however, at the same time entice people who are undocumented and are at the bottom end of society to migrate to America, which can cause a development of unequal societies.
- Even though social mobility has occurred, it has at a very slow rate. It can take several centuries for it to occur. As much as 60% of the variation in social position in each generation is inherited. For example, people who make large sums of money were drawn from elite families rather than from families with a different societal position.