FAU College of Business Hosts Renowned Historian Johan Norberg to Discuss Global Prosperity

Renowned author and ‘idea’ historian Johan Norberg visited the Florida Atlantic College of Business on Thursday, Sept. 10. Norberg had a busy day on campus, which included a public facing lecture on his latest book release Peak Human and podcast filming with College of Business Dean Daniel Gropper.  

Civilizations that once served as the model for human prosperity now serve as the case study for how to end it, according to Norberg's talk. During his public facing lecture, Norberg highlighted the common economic ingredients behind seven historical golden ages — among them Athens, Rome, Abbasid Baghdad, Song China and the Dutch Republic. Each grew rich, he argued, by opening itself to outside people, goods, ideas and dissent, and six of the seven declined after closing those doors under pressure. 

The same day, Norberg sat down with Dean Daniel Gropper for an episode of “Office Hours,” the dean’s podcast, discussing what the American founders drew from earlier republics and what the United States can glean from previous civilizations to address current public policy issues. 

Students in the College of Business economics program took an active part in the conversation at both the lecture and the taping. During the taping, economics majors Taylor Smith and Ana Oliveira de Carvalho each took up one of the book’s central themes. Smith asked how economic development has reshaped the labor market; Oliveira de Carvalho asked about the increasingly central role trade plays in sustaining global prosperity.  

“His answers made me think much more carefully about how societies choose to use their scarce resources,” Oliveira de Carvalho said. “It also showed me that we can look at what those societies did and apply it to the problems we’re facing today.”

-FAU-