We are saddened to learn that David S. Landes, economic historian and author of canonical works such as The Wealth and Poverty of Nations and A Revolution In Time passed away on August 17. If you by chance are not acquainted with his work, we encourage you to start by reading Chapter 1 of his Prometheus Unbound, excerpted at length by Brad DeLong over at his blog.
We were very fortunate to have had Professor Landes appear twice in our pages over the years. He first appeared in our inaugural issue to write our first “retroview”, of Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. The second time was several years later, to sit for an interview with TAI chairman Francis Fukuyama for a wide-ranging discussion on the links between prosperity and culture.