Stories like this pop up often here. My take: this happens when the author is not making it clear what the advancement is relative to their own past work It’s not reviewers being stupid. At best it’s bad writing. At worst it’s authors obfuscating to make the contribution seem bigger than it is

Our paper is now published at QJE ... it is open access!!! academic.oup.com/qje/article/...

Introducing my new paper with Clemence Tricaud. US election outcomes (margins of victory in the House, Senate and Electoral College), have become closer in recent decades, without a tightening of winning margins at the constituency level. We explain why. www.nber.org/papers/w34566

Course materials for my European Economic History course, which I will be teaching in January 2026 Syllabus: www.jaredcrubin.com/teaching/eur... Term paper assignment (which I have tried to AI-proof, but 🤷): www.jaredcrubin.com/teaching/eur... Slides: www.jaredcrubin.com/teaching/eur...

The Economic History Review has published a virtual issue collecting the contributions of 2025 Nobel Laureate Joel Mokyr in the journal. I had the privilege of writing the introductory essay. You can read it here, together with Joel's articles and reviews. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...

Beginning in Summer 2026, I will be one of the co-editors of Journal of Economic History. I will be taking over from Bishnu Gupta, who has done a fantastic job the last four years. Looking for papers asking big questions. Answers must be convincing, but methodology is secondary IMO

SIOE 2026 at INSEAD Fontainebleau! 13-15 July. Call: www.sioe.org/conference/2...

New survey on religion and gender with the amazing @jeanetbentzen.bsky.social & @chuncheekokecon.bsky.social 🎉

Now forthcoming at Quarterly Journal of Economics Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis Available at: digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_... (See thread below for an overview)

We wrote a survey on gender 🚻 and religion 🛐 Such a pleasure to work with @jeanetbentzen.bsky.social and @chuncheekokecon.bsky.social ❤️

DEADLINE FOR ASREC SUMBISSIONS IS FRIDAY! Join us in Orange in March - it should be an amazing event

ASREC Graduate Student Workshop 19-21 March 2026 Orange CA Join me, @avitallivny.bsky.social, Dan Hungerman, and Jonathan Schulz for one day of lectures overviewing the field followed by attending the ASREC conference Deadline: 14 November Apply here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Now, this may not pass current standards of causal inference, but it seems like the fastest path to the Nobel is to write a blurb for How the World Become Rich

2026 ASREC Conference Orange, CA March 20-21, 2026 Keynote: James Robinson Submission Deadline: November 7 Join us at Chapman for what should be an amazing event! Seeking papers at the intersection of religion/culture & the social sciences Submit proposals here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Three years in a row the Nobel has been awarded for historical work!

Trivia question: what do the following numbers mean in the context of US political history? (Note - order matters) 51.93 9.27 14.77 16.43 19.99 21.88 21.70 18.62 61.78 (and counting)

Massively updated version of: Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis Now available at: digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_...

Our Luther vs Erasmus paper is now published in ‪Social Forces 🎉 "Competing social influence in contested diffusion: contention and the spread of the early Reformation" academic.oup.com/sf/article/d... with @jaredcrubin.com Yuan Hsiao, Steve Pfaff

The pope is fallible

The Turkish translation of How the World Became Rich is now available!

The 1st paper in a sociology journal I read ca. 20 years ago was Delacroix & Nielsen (2001) in Social Forces 👉 doi.org/10.1353/sof.... Today, our paper (with @jaredcrubin.com, Yuan Hsiao and Steve Pfaff) on Erasmus vs Luther was accepted in Social Forces 🎉 🥂 😇

Also please share / repost / reskeet! 🙌 @paulinegrosjean.bsky.social @sgehlbach.bsky.social @jaredcrubin.com @essobecker.bsky.social Etc

I rarely have work that has direct and clear implications for the present, but this new working paper may be just that I conceptualize how *ideology* affects political legitimacy. I focus on historical examples, but the application to the present is clear digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_...

What were the most important drivers of the Global Islamic Revival? - politicians’ seeking legitimacy? - economic stagnation? - religious club goods? - the Arab-Israeli war? - Saudi funded Wahhabism? - technology & mass education? My new paper examines ALL the evidence 👇

Deadline is TODAY for our graduate student workshop! Graduate students working at the intersection of religion and the social sciences: come join us in Southern California in May! For more details, visit asrec.org

i want @draliceevans.bsky.social energy and enthusiasm. i want her to narrate everything from now on. this is a fun place to learn things from wise people with insight and i highly recommend it. thanks also to @jaredcrubin.com (will go buy some books now😎)

Why did the Middle East & North Africa really fall behind? And what caused the Islamic revival? Podcast with the fantastic @jaredcrubin.com Ps. It’s two hours, take snax open.spotify.com/episode/4uvV...

Was the Islamic revival inevitable? It was such a joy to chat to @jaredcrubin.com www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu5Y...

🚨 NEW WP ALERT "Religion and Economic Development: Past, Present, and Future" ✍️ @essobecker.bsky.social @ammapanin.bsky.social Steven Pfaff & @jaredcrubin.com ⏳What role does religion play in economic development? 🔎 www.cesifo.org/en/publicati... 📚 www.cesifo.org/en/publicati...

Jared's @broadstreetblog.bsky.social post 👇 about our chapter for the forthcoming Handbook of Culture and Economic Behaviour (edited by Ben Enke, Paola Giuliano, @nathannunn.bsky.social and Leonard Wantchekon) The chapter (pdf) 👉 www.cesifo.org/en/publicati...

My new @broadstreetblog.bsky.social post on "Religion and Development", building off a recent handbook chapter with @essobecker.bsky.social, @ammapanin.bsky.social, & Steve Pfaff www.broadstreet.blog/p/religion-a...

Very excited about the first installment of the Berkeley Econ History Mini Conference — first edition being on econ history x political economy. Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

What drives cultural backlash? Economic frustrations, new technology, the failure of ruling regimes, or ideological persuasion? Super excited for my upcoming podcast with the great @jaredcrubin On "Rocking Our Priors" 🎙️😲⛪️

A thoughtful and insightful review of @durlauf.bsky.social How the World Became Rich by @markkoyama.bsky.social .social and @jaredcrubin.com and Slouching Towards Utopia by @delong.social www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=... www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

Almost too good to be true: a wide-ranging review in JEL (by its former editor @durlauf.bsky.social) of the two great recent books in econ history: @delong.social 's "Slouching" and @markkoyama.bsky.social and @jaredcrubin.com 's "How the World Became Rich". Dig in! pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/...

The current issue of JEL includes @durlauf.bsky.social’s excellent essay on How the World Became Rich (w/ Mark Koyama) and Slouching Towards Utopia (@delong.social)!

🥳Congrats to our The Economic Journal Referee Prize winners! We thank the referees for the service they have provided to authors and the journal. Read👉 https://buff.ly/3X0bR4i #EconSky #RESPrizes @colewilliams.bsky.social @efremcastelnuovo.bsky.social @jaredcrubin.com @dprbyrne.bsky.social

Were the Ottomans religiously orthodox? An inquiry… Drawing on @jaredcrubin.com, Michael Cook & JR Neil open.substack.com/pub/dralicee...

Very much enjoyed reading "How the World Became Rich", by @jaredcrubin.com and Mark Koyama! A great synthesis of research on causes of long-run economic development. I am planning to assign it in my master's-level development econ course at Michigan.

I am ECSTATIC to announce that Jeff Jenkins and I have signed a contract with Cambridge University Press to edit a new book series titled: HISTORICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY We will seek submissions beginning today. A few thoughts on what we are looking for… 1/

Hello, gorgeous! (The HPE Oxford Handbook is out! Thanks to Jeff Jenkins and @jaredcrubin.com for organizing)

The Oxford Handbook of Historical Political Economy is finally out … it looks great!! Yes, five copies stacked on each other come in at 9.5” Jeff and I our so proud of how it turned out. Thank you to all the contributors for helping to make a wonderful volume!!

For those who haven’t seen this already: SIOE 2024 in Chicago. Please apply! Submission deadline Jan 31.

This looks worth a read:

Updated materials for my “European Economic History” course are available on my website! Syllabus: jaredcrubin.com/teaching/europ… Slides: jaredcrubin.com/teaching/europ  Have added a few chapters from The Oxford Handbook of Historical Political Economy, which comes out in February 😀

While persuasive, Mokyr’s theory has until recently been only that: a theory. But a fascinating paper published last month puts some evidence behind the argument bsky.app/profile/jare...

📚"Religion and Growth", by Project Leader @essobecker.bsky.social, @jaredcrubin.com and @woessmann.bsky.social, is now forthcoming at the Journal of Economic Literature.