Once again EconTalk earns its place as the one podcast I absolutely will not miss.
In this episode Russ Roberts interviews Timothy Brook, author of Vermeer’s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World.
Brook uses Vermeer’s paintings to illustrate points about the way global trade exploded in the 17th century. For example, look deeper into Vermeer’s The Officer and the Laughing Girl and you’ll see a beaver skin hat that tells a story of the New World fur trade. You’ll also see a map that illustrates a new obsession with cartography in the age of discovery. Start listening at about 20:30 to hear all about it.