Session Notes

Reading guides, concept summaries, discussion questions, and review cards for each session.

Each note summarises the key concepts for the week, frames the readings, and includes discussion questions and review cards. Read alongside — not instead of — the assigned texts. Notes for upcoming sessions are added as the course progresses.

Schedule update: no class Thursday, October 8. Professor Halliday will be away at the Progress Conference. The next unit begins with UOE Chapters 1–2 on Tuesday, October 13, followed by Hayek on Thursday, October 15.

Session number	Session title	Date
Module 1 — What Is Progress?
1	Introduction: Why Progress? Crawford + Ordinary Abundance — why progress needs defending and why ordinary life is hard to see	Tue Sep 1
2	The Chimpanzee Test Rosling — why experts score worse than random chance on global facts; the Gap Instinct	Thu Sep 3
3	Progress Getting Better — And What That Means Rosling Ch 2 — the Negativity Instinct; Sen — development as freedom	Tue Sep 8
4	Reading Workshop: Progress and Freedom Rosling + Sen continued · breaking down arguments, evidence, and close-reading practice	Thu Sep 10
Module 2 — Institutions & Innovation
5	The Great Enrichment UOE Ch 3 · capitalism's institutions, transformed living standards, inequality, and environmental costs	Tue Sep 15
6	Baltimore Museum of Industry Field Visit Industrial Baltimore · technology, infrastructure, firms, labor, and public institutions	Thu Sep 17
7	Science as a Public Good Nelson + Bush · why markets underprovide basic research and what institutions fill the gap	Tue Sep 22
8	Innovation, Incentives, and Technology UOE Ch 4 + Bloom et al. · why steady progress can require ever-larger research effort	Thu Sep 24
9	Cities 1: Renaissance Florence and the Geography of Ideas Palmer + Barone/Mocetti · creativity, patronage, and the persistence of advantage	Tue Sep 29
10	Cities 2: Silicon Valley and Economies of Agglomeration Saxenian + Watney · networks, clusters, and why regional innovation systems diverge	Thu Oct 1
11	Baltimore: Progress, Decline, and Reinvention Szanton + Hiss + NYT — forecast, reinvention, public safety, and uneven urban progress	Tue Oct 6
Module 3 — Who Benefits?
12–17	Game Trees, Rules, State Capacity, Inequality, Race, and Barriers UOE Chs. 1–2; Hayek; Ang and Grier; Chetty; Derenoncourt; Collison and Cowen	Oct 13–Nov 3 UOE Chs. 1–2 due Tue Oct 13
Module 4 — Ambition & Agency
18–19	Ambition and Reform Baumol; Teles; institutions, incentives, and political reform	Nov 5–10
Module 5 — Limits & Risks
20–22	Environment, Slowdown, Catastrophic Risk Ritchie + acid rain; Thompson/Russell/Vinsel + R&D labs; AI and infrastructure risks	Nov 12–19
Module 6 — Looking Forward
23–26	Synthesis + Data Project Presentations Closing reflection: how has your thinking changed?	Dec 1–10