# How Did We Get So Rich?

**URL:** <https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/building-tomorrow/how-did-we-get-so-rich>

**By** Joel Mokyr, Paul Matzko

**Published:** October 1, 2020

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Culture and curiosity begot innovation and growth.

## Shownotes:

In the 18th century, something sparked a wave of technological innovation and economic growth that has transformed the world for the better. Economists have argued about what that something was ever since. Our guest today, Professor Joel Mokyr, argues that it was a change in western European cultural attitudes that provided that spark. Enlightenment curiosity fomented a belief that practical knowledge could improve the world in tangible and permanent ways.

Do we assume that progress will always happen? What threatens the concept of progress?

## Further Reading:

[A Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy](https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Growth-Origins-Schumpeter-Lectures/dp/0691168881), written by Joel Mokyr