This major new book contains contributions by many of the leading historians of technology. The contributors argue that culture, institutions and learning either made the way for, or blocked technological and industrial transformation. Their essays include broad comparative frameworks between Europe and Asia, and Europe and America, and examine the specific experiences of Britain, France, Holland, Germany and Scandinavia. Themes addressed include cultures of invention and the learning economy, technological inertia and path dependence, patents and product innovation, and technology, institutions and boundaries.

This book looks at how Scandinavia was transformed from one of the poorest regions of Europe to one of the richest during the 19th century, through the acquisition of advanced technological capability from abroad.

How did small European economies acquire the technologies and skills needed to industrialize in the nineteenth century? In this important contribution to a long-standing debate, Kristine Bruland looks at the Norwegian experience to show how a technological infrastructure was created, and suggests that much of this was due to the efforts of British machine makers who from the mid 1840s vigorously sought foreign markets. Providing not only basic technical services but also skilled labour to set up and then supervise the operation of the new machinery, British textile engineering firms were able to supply a complete ‘package’ of services, significantly easing the initial technical problems faced by Norwegian entrepreneurs. Kristine Bruland’s case-study of the Norwegian textile industry demonstrates clearly the paradox that Britain’s entrepreneurial efforts in the supply of capital goods overseas were largely responsible for the creation of the technical industrial bases of many of her major foreign competitors.

What explains the growth of a business, and more broadly the development or decline of a whole economy? What role do particular entrepreneurs or indeed a culture of entrepreneurship play? Does the evidence suggest that a particular structure or organizational form was or should be adopted to ensure best practice and commercial success? These fundamental questions have long pre-occupied business and economic historians. With the current expansion of business and management education and training, the investigations and findings of the historian may have wider significance and relevance. This volume has been stimulated by the work of Peter Mathias, one of the leading figures in this field in the post-war period. Here a number of his former students, many now internationally distinguished historians, pay tribute in a book that explores the move from family firms to corporate capitalism. In a series of chapters they explore at the level of the firm the myriad of micro-decisions that ultimately help to explain the overall performance of industries, sectors, and national economies as they evolve through time. The contributors argue that sustained growth has never been a matter of a few s

The Industrial Revolution is central to the teaching of economic history. It has also been key to historical research on the commercial expansion of Western Europe, the rise of factories, coal and iron production, the proletarianization of labour, and the birth and worldwide spread of industrial capitalism. However, perspectives on the Industrial Revolution have changed significantly in recent years. The interdisciplinary approach of Reinventing the Economic History of Industrialisation - with contributions on the history of consumption, material culture, and cultural histories of science and technology - offers a more global perspective, arguing for an interpretation of the industrial revolution based on global interactions that made technological innovation and the spread of knowledge possible. Through this new lens, it becomes clear that industrialising processes started earlier and lasted longer than previously understood. Reflecting on the major topics of concern for economic historians over the past generation, Reinventing the Economic History of Industrialisation brings this area of study up to date and points the way forward.