Abstract
Modern economic growth started in the West in the early nineteenth century. This survey discusses the precise connection between the Industrial Revolution and the beginnings of growth, and connects it to the intellectual and economic factors underlying the growth of useful knowledge.
The connections between science, technology and human capital are re-examined, and the role of the eighteenth century Enlightenment in bringing about modern growth is highlighted. Specifically, the paper argues that the Enlightenment changed the agenda of scientific research and deepened the connections between theory and practice.Keywords
Industrial Revolution, economic growth, technological progress, access costs, useful knowledge
JEL classification: N13, O31, O41
Some of the material in this chapter is adapted from my books The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Change, Oxford University Press, New York, 1990; The Gifts of Athena: Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2002 and The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain, 1700-1850, PenguinPress, Harmondsworth, forthcomming, as well as from a number of more detailed papers available upon request.
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