Center for Political Economy: Big Ideas Book Series with Brad DeLong

Recently, a spate of economists have authored big conceptual books on topics of interdisciplinary and cross-sector import. This is a welcome trend in which economists are going beyond the standard, often narrowly-conceived research paper. Meanwhile, scholars in other disciplines are tackling pressing problems of political economy from a range of different perspectives. To spur interdisciplinary engagement between economists and scholars and practitioners from other disciplines, the Columbia Center for Political Economy will host a series to embrace and critically examine key “big ideas” books through discussions, open to the public, at Columbia University.

In the third installment of this series, Brad DeLong, Professor of Economics at U.C. Berkeley, will speak about his 2022 book Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century. Slouching Towards Utopia tells the story of how this unprecedented explosion of material wealth occurred, how it transformed the globe, and why it failed to deliver us to utopia. Of remarkable breadth and ambition, it reveals the last century to have been less a march of progress than a slouch in the right direction.

A discussant will be announced shortly and an excerpt from the book will be circulated to registrants in advance of the gathering.

REGISTER HERE.