Publisher's Synopsis
This book is a clear and comprehensive analysis of the dynamic connections between science, technology, and economic development from the eighteenth century to the present. Science and technology are now recognized as the crucial components of economic development in poor nations, the motors of growth in developing economies, and among the central issues of contemporary advanced societies. Yet the relationships between science and technology on the one hand, and between science and technology and economic modernization on the other, are little understood and constantly changing.
Ian Inkster includes extended treatments of Japan, China and India, as well as the process of industrialization in the West. Important historical themes, such as the industrial revolution, the transfer of technology and the role of institutions in knowledge and technique diffusion, are approached through the use of detailed historical case studies. For the first time, Inkster draws together a large and complex body of secondary literature, as well as material derived from the author's own research on Britain, Japan, India, and Australia.
