Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
How can history help us understand the world economists study—and change how we confront the climate crisis?
@harvard historian and economist Emma Rothschild discusses the vital exchange between economics and history, and how microhistories of climate change can make global problems tangible and solvable.
Rothschild reflects on the founding of the Center for History and Economics at Harvard and Cambridge, her work mapping methane emissions through local histories, and her reinterpretation of Adam Smith—not as a prophet of capitalism, but as a critic of power and influence.
From the Scottish Enlightenment to today’s climate and economic challenges, interdisciplinary thinking matters more than ever.
Learn more about her work:
https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/emma-rothschild
How can history help us understand the world economists study—and change how we confront the climate crisis?
@harvard historian and economist Emma Rothschild discusses the vital exchange between economics and history, and how microhistories of climate change can make global problems tangible and solvable.
Rothschild reflects on the founding of the Center for History and Economics at Harvard and Cambridge, her work mapping methane emissions through local histories, and her reinterpretation of Adam Smith—not as a prophet of capitalism, but as a critic of power and influence.
From the Scottish Enlightenment to today’s climate and economic challenges, interdisciplinary thinking matters more than ever.
Learn more about her work:
https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/emma-rothschild
