THE DISMAL SCIENCE DEPT.

Classical economics is the bastard offspring of capitalism, which is itself the misbegotten love-child of the Protestant Reformation. That’s not me, it’s him: https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/podzim2013/SOC571E/um/_Routledge_Classics___Max_Weber-The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism__Routledge_Classics_-Routledge__2001_.pdf

Thus I found the following article somewhat compelling, but ultimately a bit irritating. On the one hand: it’s a rare example of history written by economists rather than historians. On the other hand: it’s an example of history written by economists rather than historians. (Assume a Reformation...) Anyway, the article demonstrates how computer number-crunching allows for new statistical analysis of meta-data, to shed light on historical events already well-covered by generations of historians. The implications are thousand-fold; but you can mumble those over yourselves, at your leisure, which, if you’re a good Protestant, or a good capitalist, you shouldn’t have any of. It’s a fast, easy read and it’s fun to try to decode the maps (Since they don’t give you any help identifying cities, I offer a map, presumably NOT made by economists).

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/11/spreading-like-wildfire-luthers-network-and-the-early-reformation.html