[Main Blog Post] How the Cost of Freight Has Shaped the World

[jprussell]

Short post this week where I barely scratch the surface of what I suspect will be a big, deep topic - how cheap transportation has been the less obvious, but maybe just as important, side of the industrial revolution next to mass production.

Comments

[jprussell]

Thanks for this, and I think you and Orlov are not wrong that that's part of the picture. Mass production and cheap shipping would contribute to this, of course, as you can't force homogeneity if you have to handle things locally. Which is more in the driver seat, though (i.e. do technocrats push global products to make people more homogenous, or does homogeneity just happen when everyone buys the same crap?) is harder to say, I think.

[thinking_turtle]

Interesting. There's also the question of scale. Many more people consume many more goods than even 10 or 20 years ago. The urge of people to consume more may be the ultimate driver.