The term "gay" was used back then in its original sense, derived from the French "gai", which means happy, funny, upbeat, positive. The use you quote above bears no relation to the evolved meaning of the word today, it is just meant as an antonym to "dismal".
https://blog.daviskedrosky.com/p/from-slavery-to-capitalism You should read this (and the prior article in the series). Also, the Heblich-Redding-Voth macro estimates are highly questionable — they assume all else remains the same, when there’s every reason to think that Britain would have had less military spending if they didn’t have to guard a colony. Either way, their estimate is it sped up an inevitable process by a decade.
The term "gay" was used back then in its original sense, derived from the French "gai", which means happy, funny, upbeat, positive. The use you quote above bears no relation to the evolved meaning of the word today, it is just meant as an antonym to "dismal".
The second paragraph has a typo; it should say slavery instead of economics in the first sentence. Otherwise great article!
https://blog.daviskedrosky.com/p/from-slavery-to-capitalism You should read this (and the prior article in the series). Also, the Heblich-Redding-Voth macro estimates are highly questionable — they assume all else remains the same, when there’s every reason to think that Britain would have had less military spending if they didn’t have to guard a colony. Either way, their estimate is it sped up an inevitable process by a decade.
this is painfully (and needlessly) long