Professor Nicholas Crafts is an economic historian whose work engages with contemporary Britain.

He joins host Will Hutton in a wide-ranging conversation that starts with the long-term merits of Britain’s Industrial Revolution and ends with how Artificial Intelligence could usher in a new Industrial Revolution. 

In this discussion, Professor Crafts sets out his view that Britain’s Industrial Revolution may have hindered us in the long run and explains what we can learn from the past in

making the most of the new tech revolution.

Professor Nicholas Crafts CBE is Professor of Economic History at the University of Sussex Business School, and has also taught at the LSE, Oxford University and the University of California, Berkeley.    

This is The We Society Podcast from the Academy of Social Sciences which tackles the big questions through a social science lens and brings you some of the best ideas to shape the way we live. 

Hosted by journalist and Academy President Will Hutton, we interview some of Britain’s top social scientists to explore their evidence-led solutions to society’s most pressing problems.   

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Find out more about the Academy of Social Sciences here: https://AcSS.org.uk