Before industrialisation, most people lived in extreme poverty, worked long hours, and faced dangers that are almost unimaginable today. In this episode, host Gene Tunny speaks with Chelsea Follett, Research Fellow at the Cato Institute and author of The Grim Old Days: An Introduction to the Pre-Industrial Past. Chelsea challenges romanticised views of history and explains how the Industrial Revolution and subsequent economic growth transformed human living standards.

Gene would love to hear your thoughts on this episode. You can email him via contact@economicsexplored.com.

Takeaways from this episode

Life before industrialisation was extraordinarily difficult. Extreme poverty, high mortality, poor sanitation, back-breaking labour, and food insecurity were normal features of everyday life for much of human history.
Economic growth transformed human wellbeing. The Great Enrichment was accompanied by dramatic improvements in life expectancy, nutrition, sanitation, healthcare, and opportunities for education and leisure.
The Industrial Revolution may have an undeservedly bad reputation. Chelsea argues that child labour, long working hours, and dangerous living conditions preceded industrialisation. Rising prosperity ultimately helped societies address these problems.
The causes of the Great Enrichment remain debated. Possible explanations include improvements in institutions, changing attitudes towards commerce, Enlightenment ideas, scientific progress, and competition between European states.
The past was not necessarily kinder or more environmentally sustainable. Historical accounts reveal widespread domestic violence, cruelty towards animals, and environmental destruction.
Modern prosperity should not be taken for granted. Chelsea argues that excessive restrictions on technological innovation could prevent future improvements in living standards, including potential gains from AI and autonomous vehicles.

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction: Chelsea Follett and The Grim Old Days
02:06 – Why Chelsea wrote the book: Using humanity's fascination with grim stories to communicate economic progress
05:06 – The horrors of the pre-industrial past: The Erfurt latrine disaster, a cannibalised Dutch political leader, and historically high mortality rates
09:32 – Why the Industrial Revolution gets a bad rap: Misconceptions about poverty, child labour, and working conditions
12:06 – When did the Grim Old Days end? Industrialisation and the uneven emergence of modern prosperity
14:27 – What caused the Great Enrichment? Institutions, ideas, Enlightenment thinking, and European competition
19:56 – Did medieval peasants really work less than we do? Debunking myths about pre-industrial working hours and living conditions
24:06 – Alcohol, superstition, and dangerous medicine: Life before modern healthcare and sanitation
27:02 – How medical progress transformed everyday life: Chelsea's personal experience with scarlet fever
28:30 – The connection between prosperity and health: How economic growth made modern sanitation, nutrition, and medicine possible
32:19 – Was the past a kinder place? Domestic violence, animal cruelty, and environmental degradation
35:53 – Could we return to the Grim Old Days? The fragility of prosperity and risks from restricting innovation
39:09 – What's next for Chelsea? Challenging nostalgia for the twentieth century
42:58 – Where to find The Grim Old Days: Publication details and Chelsea's hopes for the book

Links relevant to the conversation

Chelsea Follett's book: The Grim Old Days: An Introduction to the Pre-Industrial Past:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Grim-Old-Days/Chelsea-Follett/9781969284120

Human Progress:

https://humanprogress.org/

Previous episode with Marian Tupy on Super Abundance:

https://economics-explained.simplecast.com/episodes/abundance-mindset-exploring-the-super-abundance-thesis-w-marian-tupy-cato-institute-ep258

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