4 ms·
What's wrong with "standardized weights and measures"?
by perfunctory 7y ago
What's wrong with "standardized weights and measures"?
- pavel_lishin 7y agoAnd with taking a census for that matter?
- savanaly 7y agoIf you don't feel like reading the actual book, this book review [0] does an excellent job of summarizing. [0] https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/03/16/book-review-seeing-like-a-state/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/03/16/book-review-seeing-lik...
- thaumasiotes 7y agoPre-Industrial Societies: Anatomy of the Pre-Modern World ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780747411/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780747411/ ) makes the case that standardized weights and measures do indeed make things easier for the state, but that in this case the state is on the side of the peasants against the nobility who would like to enserf them. History supports this view in some obvious ways -- European peasant revolutions included demands for standardized weights and measures as a counter to abuse of nonstandard measures by local lords.