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In a world of supercomputers, genetic engineering, and fiber optics, technological creativity is ever more the key to economic success. But why are some nations more creative than others, and why do some highly innovative societies--such as ancient China, or Britain in the industrial revolution--pass into stagnation?
Beginning with a fascinating, concise history of technological progress, Mokyr sets the background for his analysis by tracing the major inventions and innovations that have transformed society since ancient Greece and Rome. What emerges from this survey is often surprising: the classical world, for instance, was largely barren of new technology, the relatively backward society of medieval Europe bristled with inventions, and the period between the Reformation and the Industrial Revolution was one of slow and unspectacular progress in technology, despite the tumultuous developments associated with the Voyages of Discovery and the Scientific Revolution.
What were the causes of technological creativity? Mokyr distinguishes between the relationship of inventors and their physical environment--which determined their willingness to challenge nature--and the social environment, which determined the openness to new ideas. He discusses a long list of such factors, showing how they interact to help or hinder a nation's creativity, and then illustrates them by a number of detailed studies taken from the history of Europe and China. He examines such aspects as the role of the state (the Chinese gave up a millenium-wide lead in shipping to the Europeans, for example, when an Emperor banned large ocean-going vessels), the impact of science, as well as religion, politics, and even nutrition. He questions the importance of such commonly-cited factors as the spill-over benefits of war, the abundance of of natural resources, life expectancy, and labor costs. And he presents startlingly novel explanations of why China lost its dramatic lead in technology to Europe, why medieval Europe was technologically more creative than Classical Antiquity, and why Britain left the rest of the world behind during the Industrial Revolution only to lose its leadership a century later.
Today, an ever greater number of industrial economies are competing in the global market, locked in a struggle that revolves around technological ingenuity. Lever of Riches, with its keen analysis derived from a sweeping survey of creativity throughout history, offers telling insight into the question of how Western economies can maintain, and developing nations can unlock, their creative potential.

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• Part 1 Introduction
• Part 2 Classical antiquity
• The Middle Ages
• The Renaissance and beyond
• The years of miracles: the Industrial Revolution
• The later Nineteenth century
• Part 3 Understanding technological progress
• Classical and medieval technology
• China and Europe
• The industrial revolution: Britain and Europe
• Part 4 Evolution and the dynamics of technological change

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CHOICE Review

How and why technological creativity occurred in some places and times but was absent or delayed in others is a compelling and vexing issue. Mokyr may be one of the few scholars with the ability, courage, and audacity to analyze such an imposing yet vital issue. His thoughtful and thought-provoking study is wonderfully and extensively researched, broad in coverage, and replete with insightful interpretations. From classical antiquity through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, from Europe to China, to the Industrial Revolution and beyond, this study compares and contrasts motives and consequences of various inventions and innovations. Mokyr demonstrates that the process of economic progress is so much more than a chronology of patentable devices. It is a story of technical breakthroughs, stagnation, and the consequences these changes have upon production and human life. Contrary to the economist's age-old axion, free and cheap lunches are not only possible but are the natural consequence of an increased productive capacity brought on by technical process. Upper-division and graduate collections. -T. E. Sullivan, Towson State University

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About the Author:
Joel Mokyr is Professor of Economics and History at Northwestern University, and is the author of Why Ireland Starved, The Economics of the Industrial Revolution, and other books in economic history.