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1-Page Summary of The Birth of Plenty

The Hypothesis

It is obvious that some parts of the world are richer than others. The United States, for example, has a lot more wealth than Mali or Yemen. England is much wealthier than Turkey or Laos. Luxembourg is better off compared to Bolivia or Laos. France is in a better position compared to other countries like Bolivia and China which was already civilized when Europe was still barbaric and illiterate

Moreover, many European countries that used to be rich are now poor. For example, Spain is not as wealthy as it once was and France is no longer a superpower. The English used to envy the wealth of the Dutch but they’re not anymore because the Dutch aren’t as wealthy as they once were.

The Industrial Revolution

What caused the disparity in wealth distribution? Before the Industrial Revolution, economic development was slow and inconsistent. Afterward, it raced ahead at lightening speed by historical standards. The increase in wealth after that revolution was historically unprecedented. In Roman times until the close of eighteenth century, average people’s income scarcely increased at all.

The Industrial Revolution wasn’t simply about inventing new technologies, but rather commercializing them. Ancient Rome had steam engines and Leonardo da Vinci designed flying machines, but no one ever did anything with those ideas. The Chinese invented gunpowder and the Arabs invented algebra, but they didn’t do anything with these inventions either. England was able to industrialize because it commercialized its innovations better than other countries.

The Industrial Revolution was a time when the economy grew rapidly. This happened because of several factors, including personal liberty, intellectual property rights and available capital.

In the ancient world, people did not have property rights. Without that incentive, inventors had no reason to make steam engines advance as much as they ultimately did in England. Roman law and the notion of intellectual property was unavailable in the Renaissance era, so it was impossible for scientists like Galileo to conduct research with freedom. Lending money at interest rates were extremely high due to lack of security and institutions that would protect it because of this risk involved. Communication and transportation took a long time even by 1820s standards in England since most means were slow and unreliable back then.

Property Rights

Property rights are so important that they may have led to the birth of democracy. The region of Attica had independent farmers who were hardworking and determined, whose culture also promoted economic growth.

• Private property was important in the American colonies. People owned their land, tools, produce, and even slaves. Equality was also a factor of society at that time since voting rights matched land ownership as well as small farms and numerous people.

• Rome’s military was really strong. The soldiers were well-equipped and fought together as a team. If one person got injured, the others would help him out until he recovered. They also had a good judicial system that protected their property rights from being violated by other Romans or foreigners who invaded their territory. However, Rome did not establish civil rights for its citizens and imposed high taxes on everyone except wealthy people who could get tax exemptions through connections with politicians in power. This made the poor resentful of the rich, which eventually led to social unrest and even revolt against Roman rule because they didn’t like paying all those taxes when they couldn’t afford it anyway.