Joel Mokyr Books
Joel Mokyr is a professor of economics and history at Northwestern University, known for his research on the economic history of Europe and the Industrial Revolution. His work often focuses on the role of ideas, culture, and knowledge in driving technological and economic change.
Known for: The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain 1700–1850
Books by Joel Mokyr
The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain 1700–1850
This book explores how the Enlightenment’s intellectual and cultural transformations shaped Britain’s Industrial Revolution. Joel Mokyr argues that the spread of useful knowledge, scientific thinking, and rational inquiry created the conditions for sustained economic growth between 1700 and 1850. Drawing on economic history, philosophy, and the history of science, Mokyr presents a comprehensive analysis of how ideas and institutions interacted to produce one of the most significant transformations in human history.
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The Enlightenment and Useful Knowledge
The Enlightenment marked a radical transformation in humanity’s relationship with knowledge. Prior to the seventeenth century, the pursuit of natural philosophy was largely an elite, contemplative activity—concerned with understanding nature’s mysteries rather than mastering them. Yet by the mid-eig...
From The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain 1700–1850
Institutions and Incentives
Ideas alone could not fuel progress; they required institutional scaffolding. Britain’s distinctive achievement was to create frameworks that made invention profitable, information transferable, and cooperation stable. In my analysis, institutions served as bridges between knowledge and application....
From The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain 1700–1850
About Joel Mokyr
Joel Mokyr is a professor of economics and history at Northwestern University, known for his research on the economic history of Europe and the Industrial Revolution. His work often focuses on the role of ideas, culture, and knowledge in driving technological and economic change.
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Joel Mokyr is a professor of economics and history at Northwestern University, known for his research on the economic history of Europe and the Industrial Revolution. His work often focuses on the role of ideas, culture, and knowledge in driving technological and economic change.
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