THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH.

THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH. Deirdre McCloskey points out that in this review that: “For a long time in historical writing, 1890 to 1980, we were all historical materialists.” She is referring to a period when economic growth was usually explained in terms of capital accumulation. The review is of Joel Mokyr’s book THE ENLIGHTENED ECONOMY: AN ECONOMIC HISTORY OF BRITAIN 1700-1859. Mokyr and McCloskey are part of a movement in economic history which places great weight on ideas and technological change in explaining the Industrial Revolution. She quotes Mokyr: “….the Industrial Revolution was the outgrowth of the social and intellectual foundations laid by the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution.” and “The Enlightenment is the 600-pound gorilla in the room of modern economic growth that nobody has mentioned so far.”