The Industrial Revolution

Angus Chu and Pietro F. Peretto

Chapter 7 in Human Origins and Evolution in a Malthusian Economy, 2025, pp 71-82 from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Abstract: After the Neolithic Revolution, human society remained in an agricultural economy for over 10,000 years. However, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution (the transition from agriculture to industrial production that began with new modes of production, such as the factory, mass production, and mechanization, which greatly improved labor productivity) took place in Britain and then in continental Europe and the United States. “The past two hundred years, therefore, have been revolutionary: living standards have taken an unprecedented leap forward by every conceivable measure.” For example, per capita income in Western Europe was roughly $400 in 1000, $1000 in 1700, and $1200 in 1820. Then, it increased drastically to about $20,000 in 2000. Was this industrial transition of human society inevitable? If not, what are the different conditions that could have potentially made the industrial transition more or less likely to occur?…

Keywords: Human Origins; Human Evolution; Malthusian Growth Theory; Natural Selection; Human Brain Size Evolution; Prehistoric Human Migration; Migration Out of Africa; Extinction of Archaic Humans; Neolithic Revolution; Political Fragmentation and Unification; Industrial Revolution; Technological Progress; Innovation; Education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D64 J11 N10 O10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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