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  1. Home
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  3. The First Knowledge Economy
  • Cited by 89
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
June 2014
Print publication year:
2014
Online ISBN:
9781107358355
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107358355
Subjects:
Area Studies, European History after 1450, History, European Studies, Economic History
Information

Book description

Ever since the Industrial Revolution debate has raged about the sources of the new, sustained western prosperity. Margaret Jacob here argues persuasively for the critical importance of knowledge in Europe's economic transformation during the period from 1750 to 1850, first in Britain and then in selected parts of northern and western Europe. This is a new history of economic development in which minds, books, lectures and education become central. She shows how, armed with knowledge and know-how and inspired by the desire to get rich, entrepreneurs emerged within an industrial culture wedded to scientific knowledge and technology. She charts how, across a series of industries and nations, innovative engineers and entrepreneurs sought to make sense and a profit out of the world around them. Skilled hands matched minds steeped in the knowledge systems new to the eighteenth century to transform the economic destiny of western Europe.

Reviews

'… there is every reason to recommend this book and over its Jacob predecessors and indeed to delight in the research it contains. This is undoubtedly part of the story of industrialization.'

Pat Hudson Source: The Journal of Modern History

'A significant strength is the elimination of economic determinism and the inclusion of knowledge of science into the public equation. Jacob's coherent argument, premised on solid evidence … unequivocally shows that the first knowledge economy in the world emerged in parallel with the Industrial Revolution.'

Fedir V. Razumenko Source: Canadian Journal of History

'This is a compact and tightly argued book, at its best when refuting Robert Allen’s claim that coal and high wages gave Great Britain its edge (see Robert Allen, Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective [Cambridge, 2009]). It is also a provocative read, liable to raise more questions than it answers.'

Lissa Roberts Source: Isis

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