 Culture Versus Institutions in the Great EnrichmentJoel Mokyr ()
Chapter 34 in Handbook of New Institutional Economics, 2025, pp 897-925 from Springer Abstract: Abstract Is there a connection between the Industrial Revolution and the eighteenth century Enlightenment? The Enlightenment was a very broad cultural movement with many moving parts, but the one most relevant to economic history is what is known as the Industrial Enlightenment, a movement that directly advocated institutions that supported and promoted the accumulation and dissemination of technological progress and economic growth. These institutions included those that directly helped incentivize the accumulation of useful knowledge such as patronage and reputation effects, as well as patents, prizes, and other rewards to successful inventors. The movement also supported dissemination of knowledge through scholarly societies, publications, and various informal networks. The chapter concludes that both culture and the institutions it supported created a fertile ground for the rapid economic growth ignited by the Industrial Revolution. Keywords: Technological change; Enlightenment; Industrial Revolution; Economic progress; Innovation; Incentives; Dissemination (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-50810-3_34 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-50810-3_34 Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Springer Books from Springer |
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