Joel Mokyr was born inLeiden, Netherlands, in 1946.[7] He was born into a family ofDutch Jews who had survived theHolocaust.[8] His father Salomon Mok,[4] a civil servant, died of cancer when Mokyr was one year old.[8] He immigrated toIsrael as a child with his mother Gunda Mok (née Jakobs),[4] and grew up inHaifa.[8] He received aB.A. in economics and history from theHebrew University of Jerusalem in 1968.[9] He then received anM.Phil. in economics fromYale University in 1972, and a Ph.D. in economics from Yale in 1974.[9] His dissertation was titledIndustrial Growth and Stagnation in the Low Countries, 1800–1850.[10]
Mokyr presents his explanations for theIndustrial Revolution in the 2016 bookA Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy. The book has received positive reviews.Deirdre McCloskey described it as a "brilliant book... It's long, but consistently interesting, even witty. It sustains interest right down to page 337... The book is not beach reading. But you will finish it impressively learned about how we got to where we are in the modern world." In her review, McCloskey furthermore lauded Mokyr as a "Nobel-worthy economic scientist".[13]
In a review published inNature,Brad DeLong found that while he favored other explanations for the Industrial Revolution, "I would not be greatly surprised if I were wrong, and Mokyr's brief...turned out to be the most broadly correct analysis...A Culture of Growth is certainly making me rethink."[14]
Cambridge economic historianVictoria Bateman wrote, "In pointing to growth-boosting factors that go beyond either the state or the market, Mokyr's book is very welcome. It could also feed into discussions about the scientific community post-Brexit. By reviving the focus on culture it will, however, prove controversial, particularly among economists."[15] An article inThe Economist pointed out that a fine definitional distinction had to be considered between "culture as ideas, socially learned" and "culture as inheritance transmitted genetically".[16] The book has also been reviewed favorably byDiane Coyle,[17]Foreign Affairs,[18]The Independent,[19] and theJournal of Economic Literature.[20]Geoffrey Hodgson criticized the book for placing "too much explanatory weight" on "too few extraordinary people."[21]
Mokyr is married to Margalit (née Birnbaum), professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at theUniversity of Illinois Chicago.[27] They have two daughters.[4]
Cruz, Laura; —— (2010).The Birth of Modern Europe: Culture and Economy, 1400-1800. Leiden: BRILL.ISBN978-90-04-18934-8.
—— (2016).A Culture of Growth: Origins of the Modern Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.ISBN978-0-691-16888-3.
Ofer, Anita; —— (2017).Economics in the Test of Time: Issues in Economic History (in Hebrew). Raanana: Open University of Israel Press.ISBN9789650615475.ISBN9789650615505. Two volumes.
^de Bromhead, Alan (Winter 2017)."An Interview with Cormac Ó Gráda"(PDF).The Newsletter of the Cliometric Society.31 (2):20–23. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 24 July 2017. Retrieved27 January 2018.
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