The Mainspring of Economic Development

From a narrow technological and economic point of view, the industrial revolution is regarded as the process by which a society gains control of vast sources of energy and thereby experiences accelerated economic growth. However, such a definition has serious limitations as it does not do justice to this phenomenon either as regards the distinct origin of the phenomenon itself, or as regards its cultural, economic, social, and political implications. Also, it does not deal with the phenomenon of the growth of technology and industries in economies where agriculture and large human resources remain underdeveloped; in other words, it does not make any distinction between cases of industrial revolution and of imported industrialisation.

Using the experiences of the industrial revolution and of imported industralisation during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, The Mainspring of Economic Development (originally published in 1980), presents a new approach in the analysis of the process and problems of economic development, and will be of value to all those concerned with economic and demographic history.