Five thousand years of data. Draw your own conclusions.

The Cliodynamist

Five thousand years of data. Draw your own conclusions.

Latest Articles

The Oldest Mistake in the Book: What Five Millennia of Monetary Collapse Tell Us About Modern Central Banking
Technology & Media

The Oldest Mistake in the Book: What Five Millennia of Monetary Collapse Tell Us About Modern Central Banking

From Roman coin-clippers to Weimar printing presses, the mechanics of monetary debasement have remained stubbornly unchanged across five thousand years of civilizations that each believed they were navigating unprecedented territory. Central bankers today are not pioneering new errors — they are rehearsing a script so old it predates the alphabet. The psychological playbook behind every collapse is identical, and we have the receipts.

The Rise, Fall, and Reinvention of Digg: A Decade of Digital Democracy
Technology & Media

The Rise, Fall, and Reinvention of Digg: A Decade of Digital Democracy

Few stories in the history of the American internet are as instructive — or as cautionary — as that of Digg, the social news aggregator that once rivaled Google in cultural cachet. From its meteoric rise in the mid-2000s to its dramatic collapse and subsequent attempts at reinvention, Digg's trajectory offers a masterclass in the volatile economics of attention, community, and platform design.