Yes, Mrs. Bennett and her daughters face a lifetime of living off Mr. Collins’ condescending charity. The army and navy provided opportunities for young men, in the Bennett’s’ position. For such youn… (View Post)

It’s a difficult argument to make. Yet despite what Oxfam would have us believe, rates of absolute poverty have plummeted worldwide, over my lifetime, thanks to current trading arrangements. When I w… (View Post)

Many people believe that the pre-industrial world was The Shire, rather than a place of backbreaking labour, terrible housing, and a tiny elite living it up, at their expense. (View Post)

Which would certainly have been a feature of the world pre-1800. Elites did see themselves as having more in common with each other than with their own peasants. It’s how multi-national Realms and em… (View Post)

For many people “growth” is an abstract term. They do not know what it is, nor why it matters. And as others point out, one feature of modern globalisation is to close gaps gaps in wealth between nat… (View Post)