Economics Matters with Laurence Kotlikoff

Famed Economic Historian, Gregory Clark, Reveals the Industrial Revolution's Secret Sauce

Aug 7, 2025

Gregory Clark, a British economic historian and professor, delves into the intriguing link between genetics and economic evolution. He discusses how the reproductive patterns of the elite during the Industrial Revolution shaped social mobility and status across generations. The conversation highlights the influence of wealth on fertility, explores education's role in social hierarchies, and touches on modern challenges in retirement planning. Clark raises provocative questions about genetic determinism and its effects on today's socio-economic landscape.

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INSIGHT

Genetic Markers Can Test Historical Change

Modern genetic markers for educational attainment allow testing whether pre-industrial populations genetically changed over centuries.
Early results suggest rising genetic indicators for education in England, but prediction power remains limited.

INSIGHT

Why Genetics In Social Science Provokes Emotion

Clark notes public sensitivity to genetic explanations of social outcomes, despite genetic influence being accepted for traits like height.
He argues both cultural and genetic inheritance can be used to support problematic policies, so concern should be about implications, not evidence.

ANECDOTE

Wills Provide Rich Demographic Evidence

Clark describes using millions of English wills from 1540 onward to measure children and wealth at death.
Wills often included even disinherited children (given a shilling), showing heirs were usually biological relatives.

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This podcast is not to be missed. Greg Clark is a brilliant economic historian with a remarkable, fact-based take on the role of genetics in economic evolution. Genetics is, of course, a dangerous word when used to discuss humans and their success. But genetics, indeed, simply the ability to live longer and procreate better, can make a major difference over the long sweep of economic history. It can also become a marker and sustainer of social status not because of DNA, but cross-generational genetic connections as in "Of course we are going to admit X to Oxbridge. The last ten generations of X's attended Oxbridge."

Clark, whose grandfathers were migrants to Scotland from Ireland, was born in Bellshill, Scotland. He attended Holy Cross High School in Hamilton. In 1974 he and fellow pupil Paul Fitzpatrick won the Scottish Daily Express schools debating competition. He earned a BA degree in economics and philosophy at King's College, Cambridge in 1979 and a PhD in economics at Harvard University in 1985. His thesis was supervised by Barry Eichengreen, Jeffrey G. Williamson, and Stephen Marglin. He became an assistant professor at Stanford University from 1985 to 1989 and at the University of Michigan from 1989 to 1990. He moved to the University of California, Davis and became associate professor in 1990 and professor of economics in 1996. He was formerly (until 2013) chair of the economics department at the University of California, Davis and became a distinguished professor emeritus there since 2018. Between 2017 and 2020, Clark was a visiting professor in economic history at the London School of Economics. In 2023, he became the Danish National Research Council professor of economics at the University of Southern Denmark. Clark's areas of research are long-term economic growth, the wealth of nations, the economic history of The Industrial Revolution, England and India, and social mobility. He is also a visiting professor in the Economic History Department at The London School of Economics and a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Davis.