Economists have occasionally noticed the appearance of economists in cartoons produced for public amusement during crises. Yet the message behind such images has been less than fully appreciated. This paper provides evidence of such inattention in the context of the eighteenth century...

The Second Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 C.E. and a large part of the Jewish population was either killed, sent into exile, or sold into slavery. The sages of the Talmud and Midrash attempted to answer the question as to why Jerusalem and the Temple were...

In 1481 when King John II ascended to the throne of Portugal, it was on the verge of bankruptcy. A quarter of a century later, Portugal all but ruled the world, economically and scientifically – at least. This article seeks to investigate the policy decisions of King John II and his successor,...