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What has dictated the rate and direction of technological change? How central has it been to industrial progress? How has it related to other determinants of economic growth and development?

In Technology and Industrial Progress, Nick von Tunzelmann examines theoretical views on the nature and contribution of technology, and the empirical evidence from the major industrializing countries from the eighteenth century to the present day. The experiences of countries regarded in their time as the leaders of industrialization - Britain in the eighteenth century, the United States in the nineteenth century and Japan in the twentieth century - are critically compared by the author. The following chapters study the transfer of each of these patterns of technology and growth to later industrializers, such as continental Europe, the Soviet Union, and today's newly industrializing countries. Adopting approaches drawn from evolutionary economics, Dr von Tunzelmann links micro-level phenomena relating to individual firms and technologies to macro-level outcomes as reflected in economic growth and development.

This long-awaited book is exceptional both in the range of countries surveyed and the breadth of topics analysed, encompassing changes in production processes, products and marketing, management and finance.