Marginal Revolution https://marginalrevolution.com/ Small Steps Toward A Much Better World Mon, 17 Aug 2026 19:44:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://marginalrevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/cropped-MR-logo-thumbnail-32x32.png Marginal REVOLUTION https://marginalrevolution.com/ 32 32 42693868 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/tuesday-assorted-links-582.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tuesday-assorted-links-582 Tuesday assorted links https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967979345/0/marginalrevolution~Tuesday-assorted-links.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/tuesday-assorted-links-582.html#respond Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:50:45 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93614 1. AI is helping patients to solve their medical mysteries (WSJ). 2. History of economic thought in one paragraph. 3. Becca Rothfeld on Rachel Cusk. 4. “Since ChatGPT, the number of new economics papers posted each year has almost doubled.” 5. Alan Macfarlane update China fact of the day. 6. Is the next cultural boom […]

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]]> 1. AI is helping patients to solve their medical mysteries (WSJ).

2. History of economic thought in one paragraph.

3. Becca Rothfeld on Rachel Cusk.

4. “Since ChatGPT, the number of new economics papers posted each year has almost doubled.”

5. Alan Macfarlane update China fact of the day.

6. Is the next cultural boom coming to Latin America?

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/tuesday-assorted-links-582.html/feed 0 93614 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/why-arent-modernist-bridges-awful.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-arent-modernist-bridges-awful Why Aren’t Modernist Bridges Awful? https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967969436/0/marginalrevolution~Why-Arent-Modernist-Bridges-Awful.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/why-arent-modernist-bridges-awful.html#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2026 11:17:33 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93619 The public dislikes modern architecture but, generally speaking, they do not dislike modern bridges. Lists of the most awesome, most stunning, most beautiful bridges in the world will mention classics like London’s Tower Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, or the Rakotzbrücke but alongside them they will picture the Kubitschek Bridge in Brazil (Shutterstock). The Rio-Antirrio Bridge […]

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]]> The public dislikes modern architecture but, generally speaking, they do not dislike modern bridges. Lists of the most awesome, most stunning, most beautiful bridges in the world will mention classics like London’s Tower Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, or the Rakotzbrücke but alongside them they will picture the Kubitschek Bridge in Brazil (Shutterstock).
The Rio-Antirrio Bridge in Greece:
Rio-Antirrio Bridgeor the Moses “Bridge” in the Netherlands.
Moses Bridge
Whether you like these bridges or not, I don’t see in the literature an idea that modern bridges are all ugly or that modern bridge building has failed or fallen behind the great bridges of the past in the way that there is such a critique for modern architecture in general.

Why is this? I have a theory, which is that bridge designers come from engineering schools rather than schools of architecture. It is possible, of course, that there is something in the nature of bridges that prunes the design space in a way that attracts beauty–maybe we like catenaries, arches, cables in tension and beauty is just a byproduct of the engineering.

It is possible, however, to produce ugly bridges so it’s not just an engineering constraint. Moreover, one small but telling piece of evidence in favor of my theory is that most of the bridges chosen by Wallpaper magazine, an architecture magazine specifically, are in fact ugly (and with no overlap in the bridges from my first category of “popular” beautiful bridges). Here are a few, judge for yourself:

The fact that modern bridges are often beautiful, especially when they come from engineers, is consistent with Samuel Hughes’s argument that ugly has been a choice, not a constraint.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/why-arent-modernist-bridges-awful.html/feed 37 93619 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/morocco-facts-of-the-day-morocco-is-not-hopeless.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=morocco-facts-of-the-day-morocco-is-not-hopeless Morocco facts of the day, Morocco is not hopeless https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967960001/0/marginalrevolution~Morocco-facts-of-the-day-Morocco-is-not-hopeless.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/morocco-facts-of-the-day-morocco-is-not-hopeless.html#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2026 05:18:42 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93605 For decades, South Africa was the great success story of African industrialization. Last year, Morocco took the lead, emerging as the African Development Bank’s top-ranked industrial economy in Africa. In the Bank’s analysis, published in the latest edition of its industrialization index, Morocco’s growth has been “driven by sustained industrial upgrading, export diversification, and strong industrial policy.” Since […]

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For decades, South Africa was the great success story of African industrialization. Last year, Morocco took the lead, emerging as the African Development Bank’s top-ranked industrial economy in Africa. In the Bank’s analysis, published in the latest edition of its industrialization index, Morocco’s growth has been “driven by sustained industrial upgrading, export diversification, and strong industrial policy.” Since the mid-2000s, it has leveraged its location and dominant phosphate reserves to get free trade agreements with the US, the EU, and fifty other countries: the Kingdom would like Morocco to be to France what Eastern Europe is to Germany, or what Mexico is to the US: an export-base “workbench.”

Having positioned itself to profit from the shift to clean energy supply, Morocco is nimbly pivoting its auto manufacturing sector to build EVs, working with incumbents like Renault and Stellantis, and is host to Africa’s first battery gigafactory. That single 70 gigawatt-hour battery factory in Casablanca is expected to supply a third of Europe’s current market. Last year, the government approved construction for a new green hydrogen industrial park, aiming to produce ammonia, steel, and industrial fuel worth a total of $32.5 billion. It has also been strategic in focusing its industrial strategy on aerospace manufacturing, with Airbus becoming a strategic partner, along with investments from Boeing, Thales, and Safran. Its aerospace exports more than tripled in the decade to 2024, to reach almost $3 billion.

Here is the full piece by Kate Mackenzie and Tim Sahay.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/morocco-facts-of-the-day-morocco-is-not-hopeless.html/feed 25 93605 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/how-economics-is-changing.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-economics-is-changing How economics is changing https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967959557/0/marginalrevolution~How-economics-is-changing.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/how-economics-is-changing.html#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2026 04:56:36 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93613 As a proportion of the literature, research about econometric theory, monetary policy and corporate governance has slumped. Meanwhile, papers on development, crime and gender are on the up. This could perhaps be because of changing intellectual interests, or maybe demand-side pressures, such as policymaker priorities and external funding… Research from Prashant Garg, a postdoctoral researcher […]

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As a proportion of the literature, research about econometric theory, monetary policy and corporate governance has slumped. Meanwhile, papers on development, crime and gender are on the up. This could perhaps be because of changing intellectual interests, or maybe demand-side pressures, such as policymaker priorities and external funding…

Research from Prashant Garg, a postdoctoral researcher at Bocconi University, and Thiemo Fetzer, economics professor at Warwick University, finds causal claims in economics have jumped. In 1990, 7.7 per cent of claims made in the literature were causal. In 2023, that hit 32.6 per cent. Additionally, papers with more causal claims are more likely to receive citations and wind up in top five journals, the research suggests.

Here is more from Harvey Nriapia at the FT.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/how-economics-is-changing.html/feed 18 93613 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/monday-assorted-links-573.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=monday-assorted-links-573 Monday assorted links https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967944941/0/marginalrevolution~Monday-assorted-links.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/monday-assorted-links-573.html#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2026 17:50:54 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93609 1. Where do the great American comedians hail from? 2. General thoughts on biosafety. 3. “Violet Hensley Dies at 109; Ozarks Fiddler Made Opry Debut at 99” (NYT).  She also handcrafted 73 fiddles, appeared on The Beverly Hillbillies, and considered bluegrass too modern for her.  She had nine children as well. 4. Which campaiging politicians […]

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]]> 1. Where do the great American comedians hail from?

2. General thoughts on biosafety.

3. “Violet Hensley Dies at 109; Ozarks Fiddler Made Opry Debut at 99” (NYT).  She also handcrafted 73 fiddles, appeared on The Beverly Hillbillies, and considered bluegrass too modern for her.  She had nine children as well.

4. Which campaiging politicians are using AI the most, and other issues?

5. AI tutoring with Khanmigo.

6. Tommy John, RIP (NYT).

7. China is hoping to influence the AIs through data supply (NYT).

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/monday-assorted-links-573.html/feed 51 93609 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/what-should-i-ask-roman-mars.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-should-i-ask-roman-mars What should I ask Roman Mars? https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967941293/0/marginalrevolution~What-should-I-ask-Roman-Mars.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/what-should-i-ask-roman-mars.html#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:40:34 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93612 Yes I will be doing a Conversation with him.  Most of all he is obsessed with design, here is Wikipedia: Roman Mars is an American radio producer. He is the host and producer of 99% Invisible, a KALW radio show and podcast, and a founder of the podcast collective Radiotopia, which he describes as efforts “to broaden the radio landscape [and] make […]

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]]> Yes I will be doing a Conversation with him.  Most of all he is obsessed with design, here is Wikipedia:

Roman Mars is an American radio producer. He is the host and producer of 99% Invisible, a KALW radio show and podcast, and a founder of the podcast collective Radiotopia, which he describes as efforts “to broaden the radio landscape [and] make shows that aren’t bound by conventions” of public radio in the United States. In 2020, he co-authored the New York Times best seller The 99% Invisible City with Kurt Kohlstedt…Mars, with Elizabeth Joh, also hosts the podcast What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law.

His TED talk on city flags is a good introduction to his thought.

So what should I ask him?

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/what-should-i-ask-roman-mars.html/feed 31 93612 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/somalia-facts-of-the-day.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=somalia-facts-of-the-day Somalia facts of the day https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967925900/0/marginalrevolution~Somalia-facts-of-the-day.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/somalia-facts-of-the-day.html#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2026 07:16:16 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93611 The fruits of better security are plain to see. “Business is booming,” says Gamal Hassan, the commerce minister. New buildings are going up at a frenetic pace. The district around the airport, in particular, has grown much denser (see satellite images). Dahab Tower, a 26-floor confection of luxury flats, a mall, a gym and a […]

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The fruits of better security are plain to see. “Business is booming,” says Gamal Hassan, the commerce minister. New buildings are going up at a frenetic pace. The district around the airport, in particular, has grown much denser (see satellite images). Dahab Tower, a 26-floor confection of luxury flats, a mall, a gym and a mosque, is due to open this year. It sits close to the spot where, in 1993, the bodies of two American soldiers were dragged through the streets after militiamen shot down a Black Hawk helicopter. Nearby is Beydan Coffee, a thriving pan-African chain founded by a Somali who returned from Sweden in the 2010s.

What explains the lull in attacks is less obvious. The government boasts that, in the words of a former intelligence officer, it has “completely closed the doors” on al-Shabab. Mr Mahmood of the ICG credits “prosaic” measures such as the spread of CCTV
cameras, and an electronic database that police equipped with iPads use to identify civilian cars at checkpoints. Plainclothes intelligence officers have been deployed in large numbers.

Here is much more from The Economist.  I will repeat my recent point that many dangerous places in the world are about to become much, much safer.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/somalia-facts-of-the-day.html/feed 73 93611 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/what-ive-been-reading-294.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-ive-been-reading-294 What I’ve been reading https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967922654/0/marginalrevolution~What-Ive-been-reading.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/what-ive-been-reading-294.html#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2026 04:58:24 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93608 1. Gerald Martin, Mario Vargas Llosa: A Life.  A good book if you wish to read about his strange sex life, starting early in his years.  But if you are more interested in the history of ideas, Peruvian politics, or the development of the Latin American novel it is far less compelling.  So for me […]

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]]> 1. Gerald Martin, Mario Vargas Llosa: A Life.  A good book if you wish to read about his strange sex life, starting early in his years.  But if you are more interested in the history of ideas, Peruvian politics, or the development of the Latin American novel it is far less compelling.  So for me a disappointment.

2. Sean Mathews, The New Byzantines: The Rise of Greece and Return of the Near East.  A consistently interesting look at Greece, the Ottoman roots in the area, the radical changes brought by the early 20th century, and Greece’s relations with Israel, among other topics.  The book has the virtue of “trying to explain how things actually are,” sadly not the case for all works.

3. Simon Morrison, The Love & Wars of Lina Prokofiev.  More suspense and interest for me than any biography of Prokofiev I have read.  I had not known that she grew up in Brooklyn.  I am happy to recommend Morrison’s books more generally.

4. Emily Wilson, Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys through Ancient Literature.  Wilson has become a controversial figure for a variety of not-so-merited reasons, but the simpler truth is this.  She is a superior intellectual presence and mind, so you should be reading what she writes, no matter what your stances.  My two favorite essays in this volume were the one on Logue’s War Music, and the closing piece on translations of The Odyssey.

5. Munir Hachemi, The Mulai.  A somewhat loopy but intriguing science fiction story, broadly in the direction of Ursula LeGuin.  I am not sure what to think, but definitely will keep on reading.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/what-ive-been-reading-294.html/feed 17 93608 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/things-you-cannot-buy-in-america.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=things-you-cannot-buy-in-america Things you cannot buy in America? https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967911140/0/marginalrevolution~Things-you-cannot-buy-in-America.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/things-you-cannot-buy-in-america.html#comments Sun, 16 Aug 2026 18:51:39 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93607 3. Exterior roller shutters (Rollladen) In much of Europe, homes feature heavy shutters integrated into the exterior of the window, enabling total blackout and better insulation. Sleeping in true, complete darkness—not “blackout curtain” darkness, but can’t-see-your-hand darkness—is an experience most Americans will never have. These shutters are nearly impossible to get in the USA because […]

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3. Exterior roller shutters (Rollladen)
In much of Europe, homes feature heavy shutters integrated into the exterior of the window, enabling total blackout and better insulation. Sleeping in true, complete darkness—not “blackout curtain” darkness, but can’t-see-your-hand darkness—is an experience most Americans will never have. These shutters are nearly impossible to get in the USA because these shutters are built directly into the home during its construction. They are fundamentally incompatible with standard American wood-frame, siding, and drywall construction, meaning there is no domestic supply chain to support them, even if you built a house to fit them.

From Daniel Frank, here is the full piece, noting I am not convinced you cannot get a “grass roof,” among other items mentioned.  In any case an interesting list, file under “possibly thwarted markets in everything.”  Via Anecdotal.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/things-you-cannot-buy-in-america.html/feed 95 93607 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/sunday-assorted-links-580.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sunday-assorted-links-580 Sunday assorted links https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967907072/0/marginalrevolution~Sunday-assorted-links.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/sunday-assorted-links-580.html#comments Sun, 16 Aug 2026 15:41:17 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93601 1. Ken Opalo on the evolution of post-post-apartheid South Africa. 2. Reasonable recommendations for AI policy over at Noah’s. 3. JFV recommends some economics articles. 4. William Vollmann update. 5. More writing for the AIs. 6. When Europeans from Warsaw live role-play an Ohio trailer park. 7. Is EJMR gone for good?

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]]> 1. Ken Opalo on the evolution of post-post-apartheid South Africa.

2. Reasonable recommendations for AI policy over at Noah’s.

3. JFV recommends some economics articles.

4. William Vollmann update.

5. More writing for the AIs.

6. When Europeans from Warsaw live role-play an Ohio trailer park.

7. Is EJMR gone for good?

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/sunday-assorted-links-580.html/feed 46 93601 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/another-rationale-for-sticky-prices.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=another-rationale-for-sticky-prices Another rationale for sticky prices? https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967890491/0/marginalrevolution~Another-rationale-for-sticky-prices.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/another-rationale-for-sticky-prices.html#comments Sun, 16 Aug 2026 04:44:29 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93604 …what can be predicted, Dabis said, is that a recent policy change by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority requiring drivers to verbally quote the $2.25 fare to passengers may make their job even riskier. Eight current Metro employees and two former employees who work at the union representing Metro workers told The Washington Post […]

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…what can be predicted, Dabis said, is that a recent policy change by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority requiring drivers to verbally quote the $2.25 fare to passengers may make their job even riskier.

Eight current Metro employees and two former employees who work at the union representing Metro workers told The Washington Post that they are concerned that announcing the fare is ineffective and may increase the risk that bus operators will be harassed or assaulted. As a result, several drivers said they are disregarding the policy to keep themselves safe.

“It’s very disheartening to think that a company would put their operators in harm’s way by allowing this type of change,” said Dabis, who is among those refusing to quote the fare. “I just want to go home the same way that I came to work: healthy, unharmed. I love this company. I love the customers. But quoting the fare is just too much.”

Fare evasion has plagued Metro for years. In 2024, Metro said about 70 percent of bus riders didn’t pay.

Here is the full story.  And for the pointer I thank Rich.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/another-rationale-for-sticky-prices.html/feed 66 93604 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/adolfo-bioy-cesares-delay.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=adolfo-bioy-cesares-delay Adolfo Bioy Casares delay https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967878452/0/marginalrevolution~Adolfo-Bioy-Casares-delay.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/adolfo-bioy-cesares-delay.html#comments Sat, 15 Aug 2026 18:33:45 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93603 My Amazon shipment is postponed from this fall until April 11, 2028 (!). Will it ever come? Of course this is the fantastic, and long, Bioy Cesares book Borges, his memoir of their friendship. How can the reoptimization both be so distant and so exact in timing?

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]]> My Amazon shipment is postponed from this fall until April 11, 2028 (!).

Will it ever come?

Of course this is the fantastic, and long, Bioy Cesares book Borges, his memoir of their friendship.

How can the reoptimization both be so distant and so exact in timing?

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/adolfo-bioy-cesares-delay.html/feed 28 93603 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/saturday-assorted-links-574.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=saturday-assorted-links-574 Saturday assorted links https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967874783/0/marginalrevolution~Saturday-assorted-links.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/saturday-assorted-links-574.html#comments Sat, 15 Aug 2026 15:42:49 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93599 1. Speculative Chinese claims about Alzheimer’s. 2. Very interesting Anthropic piece on why multi-agentic systems seem to show more herd behavior and collusion than human systems.  And a comment from Rune Kvist. 3. Cross-cultural data on masculinity. 4. The Griers on the performance of Modi relative to synthetic controls. 5. Which federal datasets have been […]

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]]> 1. Speculative Chinese claims about Alzheimer’s.

2. Very interesting Anthropic piece on why multi-agentic systems seem to show more herd behavior and collusion than human systems.  And a comment from Rune Kvist.

3. Cross-cultural data on masculinity.

4. The Griers on the performance of Modi relative to synthetic controls.

5. Which federal datasets have been terminated?

6. The economics of NY state potato procurement.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/saturday-assorted-links-574.html/feed 75 93599 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/a-conservative-case-for-liberal-immigration.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-conservative-case-for-liberal-immigration A Conservative Case for Liberal Immigration https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967860224/0/marginalrevolution~A-Conservative-Case-for-Liberal-Immigration.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/a-conservative-case-for-liberal-immigration.html#comments Sat, 15 Aug 2026 06:44:46 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93602 That is the title of my latest Free Press piece, here is one excerpt: Or look at the AI revolution, another area where America is leading the world and also using its AI models to exert soft power. Dario Amodei of Anthropic has an Italian father, neural-network pioneer Geoffrey Hinton is originally from the U.K., […]

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]]> That is the title of my latest Free Press piece, here is one excerpt:

Or look at the AI revolution, another area where America is leading the world and also using its AI models to exert soft power. Dario Amodei of Anthropic has an Italian father, neural-network pioneer Geoffrey Hinton is originally from the U.K., and Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, who helped initially fund and found OpenAI, are from South Africa and Germany, respectively. OpenAI co-founder Wojciech Zaremba is from Poland. Musk and Thiel, of course, have other achievements to their credit as well. A significant portion of the employees at the major labs are Chinese. In one survey of published AI researchers, 38 percent received their undergraduate education in China, and 72 percent of those are working in the U.S.

Recommended, do read the whole thing.

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]]> https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/a-conservative-case-for-liberal-immigration.html/feed 102 93602 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/that-was-then-this-is-now-60.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=that-was-then-this-is-now-60 That was then, this is now https://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/967857938/0/marginalrevolution~That-was-then-this-is-now.html https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/08/that-was-then-this-is-now-60.html#comments Sat, 15 Aug 2026 05:00:09 +0000 https://marginalrevolution.com/?p=93594 I very much like the new Michael Khodarkovsky book The Steppe and its Empires: The Russian Empire & its Eurasian Counterparts.  Excerpt: Russia presented the most remarkable contrast to both Eurasian and Western empires.  The oower of Moscovite tsars and Russian emperors seemed to be completely unconstrained by moral or ethical boundaries.  Whereas religious authorities […]

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]]> I very much like the new Michael Khodarkovsky book The Steppe and its Empires: The Russian Empire & its Eurasian Counterparts.  Excerpt:

Russia presented the most remarkable contrast to both Eurasian and Western empires.  The oower of Moscovite tsars and Russian emperors seemed to be completely unconstrained by moral or ethical boundaries.  Whereas religious authorities in Europe, the Islamic world, and Cjhina kept some distance from the state and had a degree of independence from the rulers, in Russia the Orthodox Church was fully behind the autocratic powers of the tsars.  Ivan III was the first to adopt the title samoderzhets (a calque of a title of Byzantine emperors, literally “autocrat” in Greek), which he used in the sense of a “sovereign” ruler.  It took another half century before his grandson, Ivan IV, began to use the title to signal his exceptional, universal, and unrestrained power.

And:

To begin with, each Eurasian ruler conceived of himself as the sovereign of a universal, not natinoal, empire.  Such a ruler was non plus ultra; confident in his superiority over other religious or political bodies, he was destined to rule the world, if not politically, at least rhetorically, an autocrat whose subjects’ servile condition was a natural state.

Seen through the prism of a universal monarchy, the Eurasian imperial vision blurred the separation between metropolis and periphery, between the peoples within and outside the empire’s boundaries, between servitude and slavery.  Whether they were elites or commoners, all were considered to be in personal servitude to an emperor and often referred to by a term interchangeable with slave.

Consequently, Eurasian societies did not develop either the notions or the institutions that could enshrine the idea of freedom…

The concept of universal monarchy allowed for little differentiation between internal and external territories.

Recommended.

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