Penn‘s Exchange: Markets & Cooperation

The figure of the engineer as an embodiment of what’s productive and wealth-enhancing is a well-known story. But how
much of the story is true and how much is a myth? Are the engineers really such a powerful force conducive to long-term development? Felipe will talk about how the engineer has impacted economic growth of our societies. 

Sumptuary Laws were regulations that aimed to restrict excessiveness in the consumption of certain personal items of daily life, especially in food and clothes. . While these types of laws had existed in Europe since at least the Greeks their presence spiked in the late middle ages. Yet, by the 19th century, they had disappeared. What explains their appearance in disappearance? Mark talks to us about it, and how it relates to political economy problems of competition between elites.