According to Joel, what specific positive and negative incentives played a role in the evolution of the market for ideas? How did the Republic of Letters incentivize these?

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This discussion thread covers Joel Mokyr’s book “A Culture of Growth.”

A Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy by Joel Mokyr, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press), 2017.

After you read the book, and watch the presentation videos, you are expected to (1) post an original comment addressing one of the prompts below and (2) comment on one other student’s existing post on the topic.

In doing so, you can pick elaborating on one of the following questions:

1) According to Joel, what specific positive and negative incentives played a role in the evolution of the market for ideas? How did the Republic of Letters incentivize these?

2) What are the main biases in cultural evolution? Elaborate on two and give modern examples for each from social media, politics or cultural memes that spread recently.

3) How does Joel’s key arguments influence your views on the importance of culture versus institutions? Specifically, try to address causality and what kinds of culture and institutions are more relevant in Joel’s main contention.