Mokyr, Joel --- "The European Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and Modern Economic Growth" [2011] ELECD 237; in Zumbansen, Peer; Calliess, Gralf-Peter (eds), "Law, Economics and Evolutionary Theory" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Law, Economics and Evolutionary Theory

Editor(s): Zumbansen, Peer; Calliess, Gralf-Peter

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848448230

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: The European Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and Modern Economic Growth

Author(s): Mokyr, Joel

Number of pages: 21

Extract:

1. The European Enlightenment, the Industrial
Revolution, and modern economic growth
Joel Mokyr

1. INTRODUCTION

The issue of the emergence of modern economic growth in the nineteenth-century West
has once again resumed its rightful place at the center of attention of a large group of
scholars, coming from economics, history, and the other social sciences. While different
approaches have been taken to understand the causes of the Great Divergence, they all
share two fundamental assumptions. One is that modern economic growth started in the
`West' ­ that is, selected economies in the northern Atlantic region. The other is that in
this process Britain was a leader, while Continental Europe was a follower, if a rather
quick one.
This chapter is primarily about the former assumption. It argues that most of the
countries that in 1914 belonged to the `convergence club' ­ countries that were industrial-
ized, urbanized, educated, and rich ­ were countries that in the eighteenth century were
subject to the European Enlightenment. This strong correlation is not in and of itself
proof of causality, we need at the very least establish the mechanisms through which the
Enlightenment affected the `real economy' and show that they mattered. In doing so, I
will deal only with part of the story. The Enlightenment affected the economy through
two mechanisms. One is the attitude toward technology and the role it should play in
human affairs. The other has to do with institutions and the degree to which rent-seeking
and redistribution should be tolerated. ...