William Bernstein on the History of Trade

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2008

⏱️ 70 minutes

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Summary

William Bernstein talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the history of trade. Drawing on the insights from his recent book, A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World, Bernstein talks about the magic of spices, how trade in sugar explain why Jews ended up in Manhattan, the real political economy of the Boston Tea Party and the demise of the Corn Laws in England. The discussion closes with the political economy of trade today and the interaction between trade and income inequality.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:12.5	I'm your host Russ Roberts of George Mason University and Stanford University's Hoover
0:17.3	Institution.
0:18.7	Our website is econtalk.org, where you can subscribe, find other episodes, comment on this podcast,
0:25.8	and find links to other information related to today's conversation.
0:29.9	Our email address is mailadicontalk.org.
0:33.6	We'd love to hear from you.
0:38.0	My guest today is William Bernstein, financial theorist and historian.
0:42.2	He is the author of a splendid exchange, how trade shaped the world.
0:47.2	Bill, welcome to Econ Talk.
0:48.9	Well, I'm a fan of the podcast and I'm honored to be here.
0:53.2	Great.
0:54.2	Your book is an extraordinary survey of the role of trade in world history.
0:59.0	And as I think one of the reviewers pointed out, it's almost a history of the world as
1:02.8	much as it is a history of trade.
1:04.6	It's really a tour de force.
1:07.4	And I want to start with ancient times where you start.
1:11.0	And I want to talk about the spice trade.
1:14.1	Because as a modern, it's a great mystery how spices became so important in ancient times.
1:21.5	We totally take spices for granted.
1:23.7	There are a few exceptions.
1:25.1	Most spices are treated as so inexpensive, salt, sugar, the various exotic spices, rosemary,
	...

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