Short History of Economic Progress : A Course in Economic History

ISBN-13: 9780415382397 / Angielski / Twarda / 2006 / 304 str.

Y. S. Brenner

Opis

Y. S. Brenner is an economist whose main concern is with development, and this attitude is reflected in his approach to economic history.
He begins this seminal study in the era of the Reformation in Europe, and bases it on the hypothesis that once started, economic progress will spread over ever-increasing parts of the earth wherever and whenever conditions become suitable. From this point of view, he examines the nature of the impediments which prevent the more rapid and general progress of mankind towards greater material affluence, while at the same time considering the positive growth promoting factors in the various economies. Thus, he provides an analysis of economic progress in the developed countries showing which natural, social, political and cultural forces promoted such progress and which delayed or hindered it. He attempts to explain why European nations took several decades to emulate the achievements of Britain and why nations in other parts of the world, such as Japan and Russia, were unable for a considerable time to match the advances made in parts of Western Europe and the United States. Finally, he attempts to explain why the developing countries are still finding it so difficult to catch up with the economic progress of the more advanced nations.
Y. S. Brenner was Head of the Department of Economics at Cape Coast University in Ghana. The book arose from a series of lectures on economic development he delivered there during the years 19661967. This book was first published in 1969.

Spis treści

Part 1: The Beginnings Introduction: Some General Ideas 1. Population Growth and the New Agriculture 2. Urbanisation, Transport and the Growth of Markets 3. Machines and New Sources of Power Part 2: Population 4. World Trends in Population Growth 5. The Accretion of People in Europe 6. Economic Conditions and Population Trends Part 3: Agriculture 7. Progress in Agriculture: General Observations 8. The Widening of the World’s Cultivated Area and the Rising Per-caput Output of People Employed in Agriculture 9. Delays in the Emulation of Modern Farming Techniques in Eastern Europe 10. The Increasing Per Acre Yield of Cultivated Land 11. Capital and Organization Part 4: Industry 12. The Coming of Industry: General Observations 13. Transport and the Transformation of Commerce 14. Science, Natural Resources and New Sources of Power 15. The Waning of the Political and Institutional Impediments to Economic Progress in Continental Europe 16. The Industrialisation of North America 17. Industrial Progress in Pre-Revolutionary Russia 18. The Industrialisation of Japan Part 5: The New Era 19. The Rise in Living Standards 20. The United States of America: Competition Among Capitalists and the Rise of Organised Labour 21. The Soviet Union: Growth without Capitalistic Competition 22. Japan: Industrial Growth and International Competition 23. Israel: A Special Case Part 6: The Underdeveloped Countries 24. Thinly and Densely Populated Areas 25. Thinly Populated Countries 26. The ‘Overpopulated’ Countries  An Afterthought  Index

O autorze

Y.S. Brenner