Excellent observations as always. You might check out "You Gotta Have Wa" and other popular Japan-vs-US cultural norms books of the late '80s, in which I believe your drinking thesis was made (albeit certainly without scientific rigor).

East Asian businesses often go out drinking. Why is this such an important part of corporate culture, relative to other world regions?

A month ago, I didn’t know. Now, after my interviews with people in China and Korea, the answer is very obvious.

Why Do East Asian Firms Value Drinking?

Slave-Raiding, Solidarity and Status in Africa

The Patriarchal Political Order: Soledad Artiz Prillaman

Over the 20th century, the entire world became more gender equal. Or so I thought. But Pakistan has rocked my priors. Female employment has slightly risen. Meanwhile, young Pakistani women are more sexist than their grandmothers. What is going on?

Charts and graphs are on my Substack: https://www.ggd.world/p/is-pakistan-becoming-more-patriarchal

Is Pakistan becoming more Patriarchal?

Saumitra Jha (Associate Professor of Political Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business) joins me to discuss what prevents Hindu-Muslim conflict.

We discuss his paper on "Trade, Institutions, and Ethnic Tolerance: Evidence from South Asia" https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/trade-institutions-and-ethnic-tolerance-evidence-from-south-asia/534E0018C1431E7A7615B4FAD26DEB3E

What prevents Hindu-Muslim conflict? Saumitra Jha

Who are the world's most influential philosophers?

What led to the demise of foot-binding?

Trust is down, worldwide. In India, Iran, Indonesia and Nigeria, less than 15% say that ‘most people can be trusted’. What’s going on? I suggest several likely mechanisms:

1) Generalised distrust is correlated with strong family bonds
2) Poorer countries have rapidly urbanised at a lower level of income
3) Rule of law varies worldwide
4) Political contestation and growing polarisation
5) Online connectivity has boomed, and is increasingly negative

My Substack has graphs, data and further resources: https://www.ggd.world/p/whats-driving-the-global-decline

What's Driving the Global Decline in Trust?

Michael Cook's "A History of the Muslim World" is my favourite book of 2024. Together, we discussed:

- Did Islamic science weaken due to religious authoritarianism?
- Why, in the Middle East and North Africa, were there so few peasant rebellions?
- Theologically, how important was Ghazali? 
- What determined the rate at which people converted to Islam?
- Why was there so much religious syncretism and diversity in the Ottoman Empire?
- Why did the Muslim world fall behind economically?
- Did the Ottoman Empire ban the printing press? 
- Why is South Asia the only place where Muslims ruled for hundreds of years yet remained a minority? 
- When you study the global history of Islam, what is the best indicator of how Muslim they really were?
- Did colonialism trigger an Islamic backlash?
- Why do Muslim countries often have weak state capacity? Timur Kuran blames waqfs. Do you agree?

"A History of the Muslim World": https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691236575/a-history-of-the-muslim-world

On my Substack, you can see my earlier reviews: https://www.ggd.world/p/a-history-of-the-muslim-world-by

"A History of the Muslim World": Michael Cook

Dr Alice Evans and leading experts discuss growth, governance, & gender inequalities.

Alice is a Senior Lecturer at King's College London, and Faculty Associate at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Why Do East Asian Firms Value Drinking?

ROCKING OUR PRIORS

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