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joefrancis.bsky.social
Economic historian, writing a book on Argentina and another on slavery in the United States. Confined to a hill in Wales. https://thepoorrichworld.substack.com
491 posts 1,628 followers 137 following
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Logging out. Back to the manuscript.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

The sad thing about historians being economically illiterate is that they either have to ignore what economic historians say or accept it on faith.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Public Service Announcement: Avoid Harvard University Press www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

I wrote a short essay reflecting on what “AI” means for academia. All my academic friends should probably now disown me. open.substack.com/pub/thepoorr...

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

Why are Homicides so High in Latin America? This essay is a literature review of the intersecting drivers of violence, including @chrisblattman.bsky.social's new book which I strongly recommend! :-) www.ggd.world/p/why-are-ho...

submitted 18 days ago • 2 comments

The man at left separated the mother and baby at right. The mother is now in Venezuela. Baby daughter, in foster care in the US, exact location unknown. Dad? He's in CECOT prison without trial — because he had tattoos.

submitted 19 days ago • 76 comments

This should be obvious, but my research on slavery is not “policy oriented.” Even if slavery contributed to growth in the US, it does not mean that it would contribute to growth anywhere today. And even it did, it is still an abomination and should be abolished for all time.

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

In my new paper, I argue that slavery facilitated the growth of cotton exports in the 19th-century United States. To see why this is controversial, we must enter the rabbit hole of how economic history is currently taught in American universities… 1/20

submitted 21 days ago • 2 comments