A splendid exchange
by William J. Bernstein · first published 2008
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
Sweeping overview of world trade history that links commerce to the rise of societies and technology, with examples like spices; suits readers curious about economic history beyond today's systems.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Traces the evolution of international trade, from ancient Mesopotamia to today's global marketplace, exploring the influence of commerce on agriculture, technology, politics, and civilization as a whole.
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William Bernstein's "A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World" is also quite interesting. It correlates social and technological development with increased trade by examining various societies throughout history. http://amzn.com/0802144160
on “Reinventing the Wheel: Why no-tech ancient civilizations still can't catch up.” ↗More popular history: https://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Money-Financial-History-World/... https://www.amazon.com/Splendid-Exchange-Trade-Shaped-World/... https://www.amazon.com/Cash-Nexus-Money-Modern-1700-2000/dp/... https://www.amazon.com/Devil-Take-Hindmost-Financial-Specula... Academic but readable: https://www.amazon.com/Manias-Panics-Crashes-History-Financi...…
on “The Invention of Money” ↗"A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World" by William Bernstein provides a sweeping overview of world trade - including spices [0]. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Splendid-Exchange-Trade-Shaped-World/...
on “Spices Have Made, and Unmade, Empires” ↗…Speculation https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452281806/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.a... A History of Interest Rates, Fourth Edition (Wiley Finance) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0471732834/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_-c... A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World https://www.amazon.com/dp/0802144160/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Hg...
on “The Long-Term Stock Exchange Opens for Business” ↗I suggest you read A Splendid Exchange. Although humanity didn't have the exact same economic system as today's, it's a mistake to think there weren't complex systems in place in the past.
on “Investing Returns on the S&P500” ↗…it does now. Now they're both European nations. Then they were just two different nations. At least two books that provide hypotheses with some supporting evidence are: Guns, Germs, and Steel; and A Splendid Exchange. One thing that I found incredibly interesting in common was superior technology and the positive feedback loop with that. By this, I mean financial technology (loans, trade, financial derivatives) as…
on “How did Europe become the richest part of the world?” ↗I read A Splendid Exchange which I believe was also on his list and it was one of the best books I have ever read. He has a good taste in books.
on “The Bookish Life: How to Read and Why” ↗…of it as more a North Star navigation ideal constrained by the trade winds (I suppose the Westerlies would be more relevant, but I couldn't resist the pun). If you want a couple of reads, I enjoyed A Splendid Exchange about the history of trade, which I followed by the resurgent-though-once-dismissed Zeihan's Disunited Nations (which is more a hypothesis book than a history book).
on “Sam Altman’s DRAM Deal” ↗…to me what a globalized economy we live in and how much our prosperity has depended on us being peacefully happy to trade with each other. One of my favourite books on the general subject of trade is A Splendid Exchange which gives a cool directionally-correct view of how valuable trade is. Funny to think that Pax Americana would be ended by America.
on “UK businesses brace for jet fuel rationing” ↗William Bernstein in A Splendid Exchange argues that pro- and anti- immigration (and free trade) positions are taken not as fundamental philosophical positions by the left or right wing but by the different trade factors as would be expected…
on “Brexit: MPs overwhelmingly back Article 50 bill” ↗In A Splendid Exchange, William Bernstein actually argues that Islam acted in that direction because of how rigidly and in detail it specified trade rules. It's possible Christianity had a similar effect as well if it specified…
on “How an obscure cult grew to become the dominant religion of the Western world” ↗If I were to speculate, I'd say that we're in an atmosphere where cultural innovation is akin to a technological advantage. The free society is stronger. In The Splendid Exchange, William Bernstein argues that a tremendous technological advantage that the Dutch had over the British at one period when both countries competed in trade for spices was that the Dutch financial markets…
on “What do slaveholders think?” ↗…others) has solved, for the most part, the problem of stranger trust. That enables this kind of cooperation, which enables large-scale coordination, which helps a society prosper. This reminds me of what A Splendid Exchange says about the Qu'ran having rules on commerce and law: thereby allowing the Islamic world to prosper because any Muslim of the time could meet another Muslim of the time and know they lived by the same…
on “What is the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?” ↗