By: Christopher Freeman, Francisco Louca

Hardcover

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'This is a very good and important book that is must reading for anyone interested in evolutionary economics and/or the relationship between history and economics. In addition, you get a very well documented and argued interpretation of long run capitalist development from the industrial revolution to the present that will be a standard reference... a first rate contribution to the discussion of how evolutionary economics should (may) develop.' -Journal of Evolutionary Economics 'The book offers numerous insights into particular aspects of technological change... Social theorists and policy advisors today need to be able to understand technological change in relation to cultural, political and economic life, and to situate contemporary developments in a longer term perspective. The authors provide a framework to do exactly that. Their book is a welcome demonstration of the usefulness of historical context for contemporary debates regarding science and technology policy.' -Business History 'A thought-provoking work that is valuable for more than its detailed account of the technological revolutions that shape our economy today. By directing our attention to a perspective outside the current wave, it shapes our thinking about events inside the current wave.' -Academy of Management Review 'This major contribution to economic history is the most impressive and convincing attempt I know to apply the concept of the 'long waves', a basic rhythm of historical development in the era of capitalism, to the entire stretch from eighteenth-century Lancashire to twenty-first-century Silicon Valley. It is also a call for economic history to escape from the handcuffs of narrow retrospective econometrics to the freedom of its vocation: understanding and explaining secular historical transformations.' -Eric Hobsbawm FBA, American Academy of Arts andamp; Sciences, Emeritus Professor of Social and Economic History, Birkbeck College; Author of The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991The Internet and mobile telephones have made everyone more aware than ever of the computer revolution and its effects on the economy and society. 'As Time Goes By' puts this revolution in the perspective of previous waves of technical change: steam-powered mechanization, electrification, and motorization. It argues for a theory of reasoned economic history which assigns a central place to these successive technological revolutions.

`This major contribution to economic history is the most impressive and convincing attempt I know to apply the concept of the 'long waves', a basic rhythm of historical development in the era of capitalism, to the entire stretch from eighteenth-century Lancashire to twenty-first-century Silicon Valley. It is also a call for economic history to escape from the handcuffs of narrow retrospective econometrics to the freedom of its vocation: understanding and explaining secular historical transformations.' Eric Hobsbawm FBA, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Emeritus Professor of Social and Economic History, Birkbeck College; Author of The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991 `. . . a true story has to make sense, to be plausible and persuasive. Cleverness is less useful than sense and sensibility. The inability to see this, to avoid showing off, has been the death of more than one pyrotechnic schema. This book is testimony to knowledge and good sense. Such virtues are rare and that much more valuable.' David Landes, Professor of History and Economics, Harvard University, Emeritus; Author of The Wealth and Poverty of Nations `A thought-provoking work that is valuable for more than its detailed account of the technological revolutions that shape our economy today. By directing our attention to a perspective outside the current wave, it shapes our thinking about events inside the current wave.' Academy of Management Review, 27(2)

Part I: History and Economics Introduction: The Fundamental Things Apply 1: Restless Clio: A Story of the Economic Historians' Assessment of History in Economics 2: Schumpeter's Plea for Reasoned History 3: Nikolai Kondratiev: A New Approach to History and Statistics 4: The Strange Attraction of Tides and Waves Conclusions: A Theory of Reasoned History Part II: Successive Industrial Revolutions Introduction: Technical Change and Long Waves in Economic Development 5: The British Industrial Revolution: The Age of Cotton, Iron, and Water Power 6: The Second Kondratiev Wave: The Age of Iron Railways, Steam Power, and Mechanization 7: The Third Kondratiev Wave: The Age of Steel, Heavy Engineering, and Electrification 8: The Fourth Kondratiev Wave: The Great Depression and the Age of Oil, Automobiles, Motorization, and Mass Production 9: The Emergence of a New Techno-economic Paradigm: The Age of Information and Communication Technology Conclusions: Recurrent Phenomena of the Long Waves of Capitalist Development

ISBN: 9780199241071
ISBN-10: 0199241074
Audience: Tertiary; University or College
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 424
Published: 15th February 2001
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Dimensions (cm): 23.4 x 15.6  x 2.8
Weight (kg): 0.738