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Introducing Our Upcoming Book, Heroes of Progress

Human Progress Team — Feb 27, 2024

Over the past two centuries, humanity has become massively more prosperous, better educated, healthier, and more peaceful.

The underlying cause of this progress is innovation. Human innovation―whether it be new ideas, inventions, or systems―is the primary way people create wealth and escape poverty.

Our upcoming book, Heroes of Progress: 65 People Who Changed the World, explores the lives of the most important innovators who have ever lived, from agronomists who saved billions from starvation and intellectuals who changed public policy for the better, to businesspeople whose innovations helped millions rise from poverty.

If it weren’t for the heroes profiled in this book, we’d all be far poorer, sicker, hungrier, and less free―if we were fortunate enough to be alive at all.

Considering their impact on humanity, perhaps it’s time to learn their story?

Heroes of Progress book advertised on Amazon for pre-order

Heroes of Progress Book Forum

On March 21st, the author of Heroes of Progress, Alexander Hammond, will present the book live at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. He will be joined by Marian Tupy, the editor of Human Progress, and Clay Routledge, the Archbridge Institute’s Vice President of Research, who will speak on the individual’s role in advancing human progress and the need for a cultural progress movement.

Learn more about the event here.

Praise for Heroes of Progress

Making an inspiring case for progress at this time of skepticism and historical ingratitude is no easy feat. Yet, by relentlessly outlining the extraordinary ability of individuals to shape our world for the better, Alexander Hammond does just that.
— Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Innovation is a team sport achieved by people working together, using precious freedoms to change the world, so it’s sometimes invidious to single out one person for credit. But once an idea is ripe for plucking, the right person at the right time can seize it and save a million lives or open a million possibilities. Each of these 65 people did that, and their stories are both thrilling and beautiful.
— Matt Ridley, author of How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom

The figures in this book are the overlooked and often unknown figures who have transformed the lives of ordinary people, for the better… This book is a correction to widespread pessimism and is both informative and inspirational.
— Dr. Stephen Davies, author of The Wealth Explosion: The Nature and Origins of Modernity

Superman and the Avengers are all very well, of course, but the real superheroes are thinkers, scientists, and innovators of flesh and blood who saved us from a life that used to be poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Alexander Hammond tells their inspiring stories in this magnificent book that will leave you grateful to be living in the world these men and women created.
— Johan Norberg, author of Open: The Story of Human Progress

The 65 innovators honored here made us happier, healthier, and longer-lived. Indeed, it is thanks to some of them that we are here at all. Their story is the story of how the human race acquired powers once attributed to gods and sorcerers―the story of how we overcame hunger, disease, ignorance, and squalor. I defy anyone to read this book and not feel better afterwards.
— Lord Daniel Hannan, president of the Institute for Free Trade

The 65 fascinating stories in Heroes of Progress are
testaments to the ingenuity of humankind in delivering a richer,
healthier, and hopefully freer world. Alexander C. R. Hammond
provides an inspirational reminder that when individuals are
free to speak, think, innovate, and engage in open markets, the
heroic potential of humanity knows no bounds.
— Lord Syed Kamall, Professor of politics and international relations, St. Mary’s University

In Heroes of Progress, Alexander Hammond reminds us that human minds are the fundamental driver of every discovery, invention, and innovation that has improved our lives. By telling the stories of pioneering men and women who have advanced civilization, this book not only honors past heroes of progress, but also provides inspiration for the next generation to use their uniquely human imaginative and enterprising capacities to build a better future.
— Clay Routledge, Vice President of Research and Director of the Human Flourishing Lab at the Archbridge Institute

Blog Post | Cost of Technology

Appliances Contribute to Human Progress—but Regulations Threaten Their Affordability

The environmentalist regulatory agenda is targeting life-saving home appliances.

Ben Lieberman — Sep 19, 2024

Summary: Home appliances have drastically improved human life, from preventing heat-related deaths with air conditioning to making household tasks more efficient with washing machines and refrigerators. Initially luxury items, many appliances have become affordable and accessible to most households thanks to free-market innovation. However, regulations driven by environmentalist ideology now increasingly threaten the affordability and accessibility of these essential devices, particularly for the lower-income families who need them most.

Human Progress has devoted a considerable amount of attention to home appliances—and for good reason, given the tremendous difference they have made in our lives. Whether it is the heat-related deaths averted by air conditioning, the foodborne illness prevented by refrigeration, the improvements in indoor air quality enabled by gas or electric stoves, or the liberation of women worldwide facilitated by washing machines and other labor-saving devices, these appliances have improved the human condition considerably over the past century or so.

Of course, the benefits of home appliances accrue only to those who can afford them, and on that count, the trends have been very positive. Although many appliances started as luxury items within reach of no more than a wealthy few, they didn’t stay that way for long. For example, the first practical refrigerator was introduced in 1927 at a price that was prohibitive for most Americans, but by 1933, the price was already cut in half, and by 1944, market penetration had reached 85 percent of American households.

Other appliances have similarly spread to the majority of households, first in developed nations over the course of the 20th century and now in many developing ones. And the process continues with more recently introduced devices, such as personal computers and cellphones. Cato Institute adjunct scholar Gale Pooley has extensively documented the dramatic cost reductions for appliances over the past several decades. The reductions are especially striking when measured by the declining number of working hours at average wages needed to earn their purchase price. For example, the “time price” of a refrigerator dropped from 217.57 hours in 1956 to 16.44 hours in 2022, a 92.44 percent decline.

Home appliances are a free-market success story. Virtually every one of them was developed and introduced by the private sector. These same manufacturers also succeeded in bringing prices down over time, all while maintaining and often improving on quality.

If left to the same free-market processes that led to the development and democratization of these appliances, we would expect continued good news. Unfortunately, in the United States and other countries, many appliances are the target of a growing regulatory burden that threatens affordability as well as quality. Much of this is driven by an expansive climate change agenda that often supersedes the best interests of consumers, including regulations in the United States and other nations that could undercut and possibly negate the positive trends on appliances in the years ahead.

Air Conditioners

Many appliances are time-savers, but air conditioning is a lifesaver. According to one study, widespread air conditioning in the United States has averted an estimated 18,000 heat-related deaths annually. Beyond the health benefits, learning and economic productivity also improve substantially when classrooms and workplaces have air-conditioned relief from high temperatures. Yet air conditioning is often denigrated as an unnecessary extravagance that harms the planet through energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, air conditioning faces a growing list of regulations, the cumulative effect of which threatens to reverse its declining time price.

In particular, the chemicals used as refrigerants in these systems have been subjected to an ever-increasing regulatory gauntlet that has raised their cost. This includes hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the class of refrigerants most common in residential central air conditioners. HFCs have been branded as contributors to climate change and are now subject to stringent quotas agreed to at a 2016 United Nations meeting in Kigali, Rwanda. The United States and European Union also have domestic HFC restrictions that mirror the UN ones. These measures have raised the cost of repairing an existing air conditioner as well as the price of a new system.

The regulatory burden continues to grow, including a US Environmental Protection Agency requirement that all new residential air conditioners manufactured after January 1, 2025, use certain agency-approved climate-friendly refrigerants. Equipment makers predict price increases of another 10 percent or more. Installation costs are also likely to rise since the new refrigerants are classified as mildly flammable, which necessitates several precautions when handling them.

Concurrently, new energy efficiency requirements for air conditioners also add to up-front costs. For example, a US Department of Energy rule for central air conditioners that took effect in 2023 has raised prices by between $1,000 and $1,500. This unexpectedly steep increase will almost certainly exceed the value of any marginal energy savings over the life of most of these systems.

The cumulative effect of these measures is particularly burdensome for low-income homeowners and in some cases will make a central air conditioning system prohibitively expensive.

Refrigerators

Refrigerators are technologically similar to air conditioners and thus face many of the same regulatory pressures, including restrictions on the most commonly used refrigerants as well as energy use limits. Fortunately, refrigerators have come down in price so precipitously that the red tape is less likely to impact their near universality in developed-nation households. However, for a developing world where market penetration of residential refrigerators is still expanding, the regulatory burden could prove to be a real impediment.

In addition to environmental measures adding to the cost of new refrigerators, the international community is also targeting used ones. Secondhand refrigerators from wealthy nations are an affordable option for many of the world’s poorest people. For millions of households, a used refrigerator is the only real alternative to not having one at all. However, activists view this trade as an environmental scourge and are taking steps to end it.

Natural Gas-Using Appliances

Several appliances can be powered by natural gas or electricity, particularly heating systems, water heaters, and stoves. The gas versions of these appliances are frequently the most economical to purchase, and they are nearly always less expensive to operate given that natural gas is several times cheaper than electricity on a per unit energy basis. However, natural gas is a so-called fossil fuel and thus a target of climate policymakers who are using regulations to tilt the balance away from gas appliances and toward electric versions. A complete shift to electrification has been estimated to cost a typical American home over $15,000 up-front while raising utility bills by more than $1,000 per year.

The restrictions on gas heating systems are the most worrisome example, especially since extreme cold is even deadlier than extreme heat. Residential gas furnaces have been subjected to a US Department of Energy efficiency regulation that will effectively outlaw the most affordable versions of them. And many European nations have imposed various restrictions on gas heat in favor of electric heat pumps that are far costlier to purchase and install.

There are more examples of home appliances subject to increasing regulatory restrictions. Indeed, almost everything that plugs in or fires up around the home is a target, justified in whole or in part by the need to address climate change. The cumulative effect of these measures poses a real threat to the centurylong success story of increased appliance affordability.