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Loading... The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain 1700-1850 (The New Economic History of Britain seri) (edition 2012)by Joel Mokyr
Work InformationThe Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain, 1700-1850 by Joel Mokyr
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. In one of the many pre-Christmas roundups of favourite books of the year, Werner Plumpe (an economic historian himself) highly recommended it. Seemed like a good introduction to the Industrial Revolution, and so it proved. Occasionally the arguments and examples feel repetitive, but that may be due to its origins in a series of lectures. The occasional slipup (in word-processing or note-keeping) can be overlooked. I am less happy with his constant use of “Germany” as a comparison: there was no such country during the time frame covered in this book, and whenever statistics about Germany are quoted, he should have mentioned to which of the German states they pertained. I suspect that most of these regard only Prussia. Such qualification apart, it is a good read and provides some illuminating background to novels like “North and South” or “Hard Times”. All in all, a great read. ( )
It is impossible to do justice to the subtlety and detail of "The Enlightened Economy"; it is the product of a lifetime of research and thought, and stands as a landmark work of history; but more to the point, its perceptive examination of the birth of economic prosperity holds many arresting insights for our fraught economic times, where freedom is increasingly associated with government regulation and politicians appear all too-willing to accommodate new varieties of rent seeking. Belongs to Series
This book focuses on the importance of ideological and institutional factors in the rapid development of the British economy during the years between the Glorious Revolution and the Crystal Palace Exhibition. Joel Mokyr shows that we cannot understand the Industrial Revolution without recognizing the importance of the intellectual sea changes of Britain’s Age of Enlightenment. In a vigorous discussion, Mokyr goes beyond the standard explanations that credit geographical factors, the role of markets, politics, and society to show that the beginnings of modern economic growth in Britain depended a great deal on what key players knew and believed, and how those beliefs affected their economic behavior. He argues that Britain led the rest of Europe into the Industrial Revolution because it was there that the optimal intersection of ideas, culture, institutions, and technology existed to make rapid economic growth achievable. His wide-ranging evidence covers sectors of the British economy often neglected, such as the service industries. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)330.94107Social sciences Economics Economics Economic geography and history Europe British Isles -- Scotland, Ireland Great Britain [by current use]LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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