Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Max Posch

@maxposch.bsky.social

1.1K followers 610 following 26 posts

Assistant professor University of Exeter | Harvard affiliate | working on the social and cultural foundations of economic development | FirstGen

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks for the invite and the great discussions. I had a lot of fun !

USI Lugano - Department of Economics @usiidep.bsky.social · 2d

Today @maxposch.bsky.social @uofebusiness.bsky.social presented "Doux Commerce: Markets, Culture, and Cooperation in 1850-1920 U.S."

With Itzchak Raz (Hebrew University), they study how rising market integration fostered universalism and trust, shifting cooperation beyond kin-based ties.

Reposted by Max Posch

Daniel P. Gross @danielpgross.bsky.social · 14d

📢 Conference announcement!

Paolo Surico and I are excited to be organizing this @cepr.org conference on Public Policies for Innovation.

If you work in the #Economics of #Innovation and #InnovationPolicy, please submit + spread the word. Non-presenting attendees also invited.

Centre for Economic Policy Research @cepr.org · 15d

#CallForPapers - Conference on Public Policies for Innovation
ESRC, London Business School, @fuqua.duke.edu & CEPR invite submissions for a #conference on Public Policies for Innovation at LBS on 19-20 March 2026.
cepr.org/events/confe...
Organisers: Paolo Surico & @danielpgross.bsky.social
#EconSky

Reposted by Max Posch

USI Lugano - Department of Economics @usiidep.bsky.social · 19d

Happy to share that the new Econ Seminar Series in Lugano is ready to begin! Find hereby our speakers for the #Autumn25 Series!

📆Check out the full schedule below!
idep.usi.ch/storage/app/...

If interested, please contact us here or via our email: [email protected]

Reposted by Max Posch

Federico Trombetta @icotrombetta.bsky.social · Aug 4

🚨Davide Cipullo, Tommaso Colussi, Domenico Rossignoli and I are excited to open the call for the 2nd UniCatt Political Economy workshop! We have 2 great keynotes: Alessandra Casella and David Yanagizawa-Drott. Send us your papers (theory or empirics) and let us meet in Milano on December 18.

Reposted by Max Posch

Tim Waring @twaring.bsky.social · Jul 17

Excellent piece of historical economic cultural evolution research! I will have to read it in more detail today.

Reposted by Max Posch

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

✨Did markets make Americans more cooperative❓🔍

✅YES‼️

Between 1850 and 1920, the US became the largest and most integrated economy in the world 📶🌎

We show that this shift didn’t just move goods and affect prices—it fundamentally changed culture and behavior

🧵 👇 1/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

📄 Doux Commerce: Markets, Culture, and Cooperation in 1850–1920 U.S.
👥 Max Posch & Itzchak Tzachi Raz
Read the full paper here:
🔗https://dropbox.com/scl/fi/xydg1vid6a8pw8zmvw8yc/Posch_Raz_Markets.pdf?rlkey=4b4qwrdkdv47ri5721mfwy92v&dl=0

17/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

Bottom line:

We provide new support for the doux commerce hypothesis:
markets➡️impersonal prosocial norms, generalized trust, and broader patterns of cooperation

⚠️BUT markets also weakened traditional kin-based social insurance. Marx and Polanyi aren't entirely wrong!

16/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

2️⃣ Multiple indirect channels❌

Population diversity🫂, economic development🏭, access to information📰, and legal institutions🏛️—may have played some role, but none appear to account for the link between market access and generalized cooperative culture and behavior

15/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

WHY❓Mechanisms:

1️⃣ A direct channel✅
Adaptation is concentrated in individuals more exposed to commerce and whose livelihood depends on it
⏩ More frequent and beneficial exchanges with strangers and increased economic interdependence is a key driver

14/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

Cultural adaptation paid off❗
Families who adjusted to the local, market-integrated norms had:

▪️Higher property values 📈🏡
▪️Lower child mortality 📉👶🪦

13/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

HOW❓

We track domestic migrants and find:

❌ Selective sorting

✅ Adaptation: People moving to more market-integrated areas adapted quickly

⬆️They become more universalistic
⬆️Higher cooperation in the labor force
⬆️More cooperation with non-kin at home

12/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

🧩 Then we ask: Did greater market access lead to more generalized cooperative culture and behavior?

✅ YES ‼️

1️⃣ strengthened generalized cooperative cultural traits
2️⃣ increased impersonal cooperation
3️⃣ reduced kin-based cooperation

11/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

Our cultural and behavioral measures are deeply connected. Generalized cooperative culture is associated with:

⬆️ More impersonal cooperative behavior
⬇️ Less kin-based cooperation

10/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

For cooperative behavior, we measure:

🤝 Impersonal cooperation across different spheres of social life: at work, in innovation, at home, and within the community

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👴👵 Kin-based cooperation with the share of vulnerable individuals cared for by relatives at home

9/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

🧠 We measure generalized cooperative culture focusing on universalism, tolerance, and generalized trust—traits supporting cooperation with strangers, using indicators from Raz (2025) and a novel NLP measure of local historical newspapers

8/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

We measure market integration using a county-level “Market Access” following Donaldson & Hornbeck (2016)

📈 Counties saw big, uneven increases in market access over time, driven by the expansion of the railroad network and by population growth 🚂🛤️

7/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

🌐Producers shifted from local subsistence to market-oriented production
🗺️ Long-distance trade rapidly expanded
🛒 Household consumption became increasingly reliant on distant sellers

6/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

To test these ideas empirically, we focus on 1850–1920 US.

During this period, the US became the world’s most integrated economy and transformed into a “market society,” where markets became a central organizing force of life:

5/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

Critics like Marx and Polanyi argued that markets erode morality, commodify social relationships, and foster alienation and exploitation

4/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

Philosophers and social scientists have debated the moral and social implications of markets for centuries, but it remains contested and politicized. Enlightenment thinkers such as Montesquieu and Smith argued that commerce softens manners and reduces prejudice

3/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

📢 In our 🆕working paper (with @raztzachi.bsky.social
), we show that as markets expanded, Americans became more universalistic, tolerant, trusting, and cooperative

🔗https://dropbox.com/scl/fi/xydg1vid6a8pw8zmvw8yc/Posch_Raz_Markets.pdf?rlkey=4b4qwrdkdv47ri5721mfwy92v&e=1&dl=0

2/17

Max Posch @maxposch.bsky.social · Jul 17

✨Did markets make Americans more cooperative❓🔍

✅YES‼️

Between 1850 and 1920, the US became the largest and most integrated economy in the world 📶🌎

We show that this shift didn’t just move goods and affect prices—it fundamentally changed culture and behavior

🧵 👇 1/17

Reposted by Max Posch

Florian Oswald @floswald.bsky.social · Jul 1

And we are live! #econsky @jpolecon.bsky.social

jpedataeditor.github.io

Journal of Political Economy Data Editor Website – JPE Data Editor

jpedataeditor.github.io

Reposted by Max Posch

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social · May 5

For German and French speakers interested in animal culture, this doco will be well worth 43 mins of your time. For everyone else, great tits solving puzzle boxes speak for themselves 🐦🧩🧠@lucymaplin.bsky.social @mchimento.bsky.social

www.arte.tv/de/videos/11...

Kultur im Tierreich - Voneinander lernen - Die ganze Doku | ARTE

Bei Menschen wie bei Tieren beruht die Weitergabe von Kultur auf sozialem Lernen. Vier Arten geben Einblicke in die Kulturvermittlung im Tierreich: Kohlmeisen und Grünmeerkatzen lernen die Tricks der ...