Roderick Floud

David Mitch

Santhi Hejeebu

Economics as a mathematical exercise, which too often relies on the notion of perfectly rational actors, doesn t have a perfect grasp of reality. What economics could use most, as many have pointed out, is a more realistic view of human beings, and how non-material beliefs and values shape the economy. "Humanism Challenges Materialism in Economics and Economic History" is a new synthesis of the most promising perspectives of this more human-centric approach to economics. Roderick Floud, Santhi Hejeebu, and David F. Mitch have brought together a variety of top scholars from an formidable range of disciplines to develop and illustrate three specific approaches: how individual beliefs influence material outcomes, how collective beliefs affect the economy, and how the methods of economics are not just higher-order math but forms of rhetoric, philosophy, and history. By bringing together these fundamental yet alternative conceptions of economics as informed by the humanities, and organizing them into effective and complementary groups, the volume is a huge step forward in developing a much more realistic conception of the long story of capitalist growth."

Humanism Challenges Materialism in Economics and Economic History

While increasing government involvement would seem to provide the most obvious explanation for this rise, David F. Mitch seeks to demonstrate that, in fact, popular demand was also an important force behind the growth in literacy.

The Influence of Private Choice and Public Policy

The Rise of Popular Literacy in Victorian England

Gabriele Cappelli

This edited collection explores the historical determinants of the rise of mass schooling and human capital accumulation based on a global, long-run perspective, focusing on a variety of countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The authors analyze the increasing importance attached to globalization as a factor in how social, institutional and economic change shapes national and regional educational trends. Although recent research in economic history has increasingly devoted more attention to global forces in shaping the institutions and fortunes of different world regions, the link and contrast between national education policies and the forces of globalization remains largely under-researched within the field. The globalization of the world economy, starting in the nineteenth century, brought about important changes that affected school policy itself, as well as the process of long-term human capital accumulation. Large migrations prompted brain drain and gain across countries, alongside rapid transformations in the sectoral composition of the economy and demand for skills. Ideas on education and schooling circulated more easily, bringing about relevant changes in public policy, while the changing political voice of winners and losers from globalization determined the path followed by public choice. Similarly, religion and the spread of missions came to play a crucial role for the rise of schooling globally.

David Mitch

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