The End of the Post-War Consensus

1.        Pettersson, T. & Wallensteen, P. Armed conflicts, 1946–2014. Journal of Peace Research 52, 536–550 (2015).

2.        Eriksson, M. & Wallensteen, P. Armed Conflict, 1989–2003. Journal of Peace Research 41, 625–636 (2004).

3.        Lacina, B. & Gleditsch, N. P. The Waning of War is Real. Journal of Conflict Resolution 57, 1109–1127 (2013).

4.        Inequality Growth and Poverty in an Era of Liberalization and Globalization. (Oxford University PressOxford, 2004). doi:10.1093/0199271410.001.0001.

5.        Inequalities in Household Wealth across OECD Countries. doi:10.1787/7e1bf673-en.

6.        Chancel, L., Thomas, P., Saez, E. & Zucman, G. World Inequality Report 2022.

7.        Aghelmaleki, H., Bachmann, R. & Stiebale, J. The China Shock, Employment Protection, and European Jobs. ILR Review 75, 1269–1293 (2022).

8.        Colantone, I. & Stanig, P. Global Competition and Brexit. American Political Science Review 112, 201–218 (2018).

9.        Tridico, P. The determinants of income inequality in OECD countries. Cambridge Journal of Economics 42, 1009–1042 (2018).

10.      Jaumotte, F. & Osorio-Buitron, C. Inequality and Labor Market Institutions. SSRN Electronic Journal (2015) doi:10.2139/ssrn.2678639.

11.      Palladino, L. Financialization at work: Shareholder primacy and stagnant wages in the United States. Competition & Change 25, 382–400 (2021).

12.      Pessoa, J. P. & Reenen, J. Van. Decoupling of Wage Growth and Productivity Growth? Myth and Reality. in (2013).

13.      Blanchflower, D. G. & Machin, S. J. Falling real wages. CentrePiece-The Magazine for Economic Performance (2014).

14.      Gregg, P., Machin, S. & Fernández-Salgado, M. Real Wages and Unemployment in the Big Squeeze. The Economic Journal 124, 408–432 (2014).

15.      Standing, G. The Corruption of Capitalism: Why Rentiers Thrive and Work Does Not Pay. in (2016).

16.      Lee, Y., Kemp, P. A. & Reina, V. J. Drivers of housing (un)affordability in the advanced economies: a review and new evidence. Housing Studies 37, 1739–1752 (2022).

17.      Huddleston. Thomas. Europe: Immigration Now Public’s Top Priority at EU and National Level.

18.      Hermsmeier, L. Germany Has a Problem. New York Times (2023).

19.      European Commission. EU Barometer Report Autumn 2015.

20.      Nurdin, A., Setiawan, A. & Nugraha, A. R. The Rise of Populism and Its Impact on Democratic Institutions: A Comparative Analysis of Global Trends. International Journal of Social and Human 1, 67–78 (2024).

21.      Buss, J. A. Have the Poor Gotten Poorer?: The American Experience from 1987 to 2007. Journal of Poverty 14, 183–196 (2010).

22.      Meara, E. & Skinner, J. Losing ground at midlife in America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, 15006–15007 (2015).

23.      Harvey, L. & Rockey, J. C. The Declining Fortunes of (Most) American Workers. SSRN Electronic Journal (2020).

24.      Hills, J., Cunliffe, J., Obolenskaya, P. & Karagiannaki, E. Falling Behind, Getting Ahead: The Changing Structure of Inequality in the UK, 2007-2013 .

25.      Nolan, B. Generating Prosperity for Working Families in Affluent Countries. vol. 1 (Oxford University Press, 2018).

26.      Costa, R. P. & Machin, S. J. Real Wages and Living Standards in the UK. in (2017).

27.      Blanchflower, D. G., Costa, R. P. & Machin, S. J. The Return of Falling Real Wages. in (2017).

28.      Cortes, P. The Effect of Low-Skilled Immigration on US Prices: Evidence from CPI Data. SSRN Electronic Journal (2006).

29.      Orrenius, P. M. & Zavodny, M. Does Immigration Affect Wages? A Look at Occupation-Level Evidence. SSRN Electronic Journal (2003).

30.      Altonji, J. G. & Card, D. The Effects of Immigration on the Labor Market Outcomes of Less-skilled Natives. in Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the New Immigration 137–170 (Routledge, 2018).

31.      Nickell, S. & Saleheen, J. The Impact of Immigration on Occupational Wages: Evidence from Britain. SSRN Electronic Journal (2008).

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Introducing Scientific Liberalism

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MORAL COGNITION / CERTAIN SOCIAL CONDITIONS

32.      Greene, J. D., Nystrom, L. E., Engell, A. D., Darley, J. M. & Cohen, J. D. The Neural Bases of Cognitive Conflict and Control in Moral Judgment. Neuron 44, 389–400 (2004).

33.      Moll, J. & de Oliveira-Souza, R. Moral judgments, emotions and the utilitarian brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 11, 319–321 (2007).

34.      Young, L. & Koenigs, M. Investigating emotion in moral cognition: a review of evidence from functional neuroimaging and neuropsychology. British Medical Bulletin 84, 69–79 (2007).

35.      Fumagalli, M. & Priori, A. Functional and clinical neuroanatomy of morality. Brain 135, 2006–2021 (2012).

36.      Mendez, M. F. The Neurobiology of Moral Behavior: Review and Neuropsychiatric Implications. CNS Spectrums 14, 608–620 (2009).

37.      The Moral Brain: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. vol. 53 (2015).

38.      Moll, J. et al. The Neural Correlates of Moral Sensitivity: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation of Basic and Moral Emotions. The Journal of Neuroscience 22, 2730–2736 (2002).

39.      Hamlin, J. K. Moral Judgment and Action in Preverbal Infants and Toddlers. Current Directions in Psychological Science 22, 186–193 (2013).

40.      Pascual, L., Rodrigues, P. & Gallardo-Pujol, D. How does morality work in the brain? A functional and structural perspective of moral behavior. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience 7, (2013).

41.      Schaich Borg, J., Hynes, C., Van Horn, J., Grafton, S. & Sinnott-Armstrong, W. Consequences, Action, and Intention as Factors in Moral Judgments: An fMRI Investigation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 18, 803–817 (2006).

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INNATE PREFERENCE FOR FAIRNESS

42.      Warneken, F. & Tomasello, M. Altruistic Helping in Human Infants and Young Chimpanzees. Science 311, 1301–1303 (2006).

43.      McAuliffe, K., Blake, P. R., Steinbeis, N. & Warneken, F. The developmental foundations of human fairness. Nature Human Behaviour 1, 0042 (2017).

44.      Henrich, J. et al. Markets, Religion, Community Size, and the Evolution of Fairness and Punishment. Science 327, 1480–1484 (2010).

45.      Geraci, A. & Surian, L. The developmental roots of fairness: infants’ reactions to equal and unequal distributions of resources. Developmental Science 14, 1012–1020 (2011).

46.      Tabibnia, G., Satpute, A. B. & Lieberman, M. D. The Sunny Side of Fairness. Psychological Science 19, 339–347 (2008).

47.      Hauser, M., McAuliffe, K. & Blake, P. R. Evolving the ingredients for reciprocity and spite. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 364, 3255–3266 (2009).

48.      Sanfey, A. G., Rilling, J. K., Aronson, J. A., Nystrom, L. E. & Cohen, J. D. The Neural Basis of Economic Decision-Making in the Ultimatum Game. Science 300, 1755–1758 (2003).

49.      Feng, C., Luo, Y. & Krueger, F. Neural signatures of fairness‐related normative decision making in the ultimatum game: A coordinate‐based meta‐analysis. Human Brain Mapping 36, 591–602 (2015).

50.      Cappelen, A. W., Nielsen, U. H., Tungodden, B., Tyran, J.-R. & Wengstrrm, E. Fairness is Intuitive. SSRN Electronic Journal (2014) doi:10.2139/ssrn.2430774.

51.      Wang, Y. et al. Born for fairness: evidence of genetic contribution to a neural basis of fairness intuition. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 14, 539–548 (2019).

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INNATE PREFERENCE FOR CARE

52.      Meyer, M. L. et al. Empathy for the social suffering of friends and strangers recruits distinct patterns of brain activation. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 8, 446–454 (2013).

53.      Vaughn, D. A., Savjani, R. R., Cohen, M. S. & Eagleman, D. M. Empathic Neural Responses Predict Group Allegiance. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 12, (2018).

54.      Singer, T. et al. Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others. Nature 439, 466–469 (2006).

55.      Bloom, P. Empathy and Its Discontents. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 21, 24–31 (2017).

56.      Cowell, J. M. et al. The development of generosity and moral cognition across five cultures. Developmental Science 20, (2017).

57.      Wang, Z., Zhang, D. & Zheng, Z. Cross-Cultural Differences in Empathy and Relevant Factors. Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences 10, 197–202 (2023).

58.      Rilling, J. K. et al. A Neural Basis for Social Cooperation. Neuron 35, 395–405 (2002).

59.      Davidov, M., Zahn‐Waxler, C., Roth‐Hanania, R. & Knafo, A. Concern for Others in the First Year of Life: Theory, Evidence, and Avenues for Research. Child Development Perspectives 7, 126–131 (2013).

60.      Liddle, M.-J. E., Bradley, B. S. & Mcgrath, A. Baby Empathy: Infant Distress and Peer Prosocial Responses. Infant Mental Health Journal 36, 446–458 (2015).

61.      Roth-Hanania, R., Davidov, M. & Zahn-Waxler, C. Empathy development from 8 to 16 months: Early signs of concern for others. Infant Behavior and Development 34, 447–458 (2011).

62.      Greene, J. D., Sommerville, R. B., Nystrom, L. E., Darley, J. M. & Cohen, J. D. An fMRI Investigation of Emotional Engagement in Moral Judgment. Science 293, 2105–2108 (2001).

63.      Nitschke, J. B. et al. Orbitofrontal cortex tracks positive mood in mothers viewing pictures of their newborn infants. NeuroImage 21, 583–592 (2004).

64.      Decety, J. & Svetlova, M. Putting together phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives on empathy. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 2, 1–24 (2012).

65.      Tucker, D. M., Luu, P. & Derryberry, D. Love hurts: The evolution of empathic concern through the encephalization of nociceptive capacity. Development and Psychopathology 17, (2005).

66.      Preston, S. D. & de Waal, F. B. M. Empathy: Its ultimate and proximate bases. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 25, 1–20 (2002).

67.      Decety, J. The Neuroevolution of Empathy and Caring for Others: Why It Matters for Morality. in 127–151 (2014). doi:10.1007/978-3-319-02904-7_8.

68.      Goetz, J. L., Keltner, D. & Simon-Thomas, E. Compassion: An evolutionary analysis and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin 136, 351–374 (2010).

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INNATE PREFERENCE FOR COOPERATION

69.      McAllister, D. J. Affect- and Cognition-Based Trust as Foundations for Interpersonal Cooperation in Organizations. Academy of Management Journal 38, 24–59 (1995).

70.      Ferrin, D. L., Bligh, M. C. & Kohles, J. C. Can I Trust You to Trust Me? Group & Organization Management 32, 465–499 (2007).

71.      Zer, Z. & Zheng, Y. Trust and Trustworthiness. SSRN Electronic Journal (2017) doi:10.2139/ssrn.3046303.

72.      Lorenz, E. Trust, contract and economic cooperation. Cambridge Journal of Economics 23, 301–315 (1999).

73.      Jones, G. R. & George, J. M. The Experience and Evolution of Trust: Implications for Cooperation and Teamwork. Academy of Management Review 23, 531–546 (1998).

74.      Yamagishi, T., Kanazawa, S., Mashima, R. & Terai, S. Separating Trust from Cooperation in a Dynamic Relationship. Rationality and Society 17, 275–308 (2005).

75.      Tomasello, M. Why We Cooperate. (The MIT Press, 2009).

76.      Tabibnia, G. & Lieberman, M. D. Fairness and Cooperation Are Rewarding. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1118, 90–101 (2007).

77.      Xia, N. & Li, H. Loneliness, Social Isolation, and Cardiovascular Health. Antioxidants & Redox Signaling 28, 837–851 (2018).

78.      Litt, E., Zhao, S., Kraut, R. & Burke, M. What Are Meaningful Social Interactions in Today’s Media Landscape? A Cross-Cultural Survey. Social Media + Society 6, 205630512094288 (2020).

79.      Cole, S. W. et al. Myeloid differentiation architecture of leukocyte transcriptome dynamics in perceived social isolation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, 15142–15147 (2015).

80.      Lee, C. R., Chen, A. & Tye, K. M. The neural circuitry of social homeostasis: Consequences of acute versus chronic social isolation. Cell 184, 1500–1516 (2021).

81.      Tomasello, M. A Natural History of Human Morality. (Harvard University Press, 2016).

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GROUP PREFERENCE

82.      Tomasello, M. A Natural History of Human Thinking. (Harvard University Press, 2014). doi:10.4159/9780674726369.

83.      Oesch, N. Social Brain Perspectives on the Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience of Human Language. Brain Sciences 14, 166 (2024).

84.      MacLaren, N. G., Meng, L., Collier, M. & Masuda, N. Cooperation and the social brain hypothesis in primate social networks. Frontiers in Complex Systems 1, (2024).

85.      Hrdy, S. B. Evolutionary Context of Human Development: The Cooperative Breeding Model. in Family Relationships 39–68 (Oxford University PressNew York, 2007). doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320510.003.0003.

86.      Kramer, K. L. & Otárola-Castillo, E. When mothers need others: The impact of hominin life history evolution on cooperative breeding. Journal of Human Evolution 84, 16–24 (2015).

87.      Pervaiz, Z. & Chaudhary, A. R. Social Cohesion and Economic Growth: An Empirical Investigation. Australian Economic Review 48, 369–381 (2015).

88.      Rodrik, D. Participatory Politics, Social Cooperation, and Economic Stability. American Economic Review 90, 140–144 (2000).

89.      Whiteley, P. F. Economic Growth and Social Capital. Political Studies 48, 443–466 (2000).

90.      Sztaudynger, J. J., Ambroziak, E. & Starosta, P. Generalized Trust, Helpfulness, Fairness and Growth in European Countries A Revised Analysis. Comparative Economic Research. Central and Eastern Europe 25, 135–160 (2022).

91.      Fukuyama, F. Social Capital and Development: The Coming Agenda. SAIS Review 22, 23–37 (2002).

92.      Rilling, J. K., Dagenais, J. E., Goldsmith, D. R., Glenn, A. L. & Pagnoni, G. Social cognitive neural networks during in-group and out-group interactions. NeuroImage 41, 1447–1461 (2008).

93.      Blascovich, J., Mendes, W. B., Hunter, S. B., Lickel, B. & Kowai-Bell, N. Perceiver threat in social interactions with stigmatized others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 80, 253–267 (2001).

94.      Maner, J. K. & Miller, S. L. Adaptive Attentional Attunement: Perceptions of Danger and Attention to Outgroup Men. Social Cognition 31, 733–744 (2013).

95.      Ma, Y. & Tan, H. Representation of intergroup conflict in the human brain. Neuron 111, 1692–1696 (2023).

96.      Van Bavel, J. J., Packer, D. J. & Cunningham, W. A. The Neural Substrates of In-Group Bias. Psychological Science 19, 1131–1139 (2008).

97.      Lin, L. C., Qu, Y. & Telzer, E. H. Intergroup social influence on emotion processing in the brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, 10630–10635 (2018).

98.      Greven, I. M. & Ramsey, R. Neural network integration during the perception of in-group and out-group members. Neuropsychologia 106, 225–235 (2017).

99.      Crespi, B. J., Flinn, M. v. & Summers, K. Runaway Social Selection in Human Evolution. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 10, (2022).

100.    Bergstrom, T. C. Evolution of Social Behavior: Individual and Group Selection. Journal of Economic Perspectives 16, 67–88 (2002).

101.    Wilson, D. S. & Sober, E. Reintroducing group selection to the human behavioral sciences. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 17, 585–608 (1994).

102.    Hill, K. R. et al. Co-Residence Patterns in Hunter-Gatherer Societies Show Unique Human Social Structure. Science 331, 1286–1289 (2011).

103.    Dunbar, R., Harcourt, A. H. & de Waal, F. B. M. Coalitions and Alliances in Humans and Other Animals. Man 28, 370 (1993).

104.    Caporael, L. R. The Evolution of Truly Social Cognition: The Core Configurations Model. Personality and Social Psychology Review 1, 276–298 (1997).

105.    Bissonnette, A. et al. Coalitions in theory and reality: a review of pertinent variables and processes. Behaviour 152, 1–56 (2015).

106.    Haslam, S. A. et al. Social identity makes group-based social connection possible: Implications for loneliness and mental health. Current Opinion in Psychology 43, 161–165 (2022).

107.    Correll, J. & Park, B. A Model of the Ingroup as a Social Resource. Personality and Social Psychology Review 9, 341–359 (2005).

108.    Hawkley, L. C. & Cacioppo, J. T. Loneliness Matters: A Theoretical and Empirical Review of Consequences and Mechanisms. Annals of Behavioral Medicine 40, 218–227 (2010).

109.    Taijfel, H. Experiments in intergroup discrimination. Scientific American 223, 96–102 (1970).

110.    Yang, X. & Dunham, Y. Minimal but meaningful: Probing the limits of randomly assigned social identities. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 185, 19–34 (2019).

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LEGITIMACY & PERFORMANCE

111.    Murphy, N. J. Lest We Forget: Liberal Democracy is The Best System of Governance. Prepolitica Substack (2025).

112.    Jackson, J. et al. Why Do People Comply with the Law? Legitimacy and the Influence of Legal Institutions. British Journal of Criminology 52, 1051–1071 (2012).

113.    Tyler, T. R. & Rasinski, K. Procedural Justice, Institutional Legitimacy, and the Acceptance of Unpopular U.S. Supreme Court Decisions: A Reply to Gibson. Law & Society Review 25, 621–630 (1991).

114.    Tyler, T. Why do People Obey the Law. in (2006).