Did a feedback mechanism between propositional and prescriptive knowledge create modern growth?
This paper quantitatively tests Joel Mokyr’s feedback loop hypothesis using historical text data.
19 Dec 2025
The English universities in the 17th century
Picture: Magdalen College in 1566 from Foster’s Alumni Oxonienses. Seventeenth-century universities stood at the intersection of medieval and modern regimes of knowledge production. On one hand, curricula remained largely rooted in scholastic and Aristotelian traditions—particularly in England. On the other hand, universities continued to serve as key sites of intellectual exchange. A central mechanism of this exchange was the vertical transmission of ideas between teachers and students.
05 May 2025
Teacher-directed scientific change: The case of the English Scientific Revolution
This paper studies teacher-directed scientific change during the Scientific Revolution. It shows that teachers at seventeenth century Oxford and Cambridge shaped students’ direction of research.
03 Mar 2025