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List of contents
Contents: Introduction: The wealth of some nations; Discoveries, inventions and industrial revolutions: on the varying contributions of technologies and institutions from an international historical perspective; Culture, action and institutions: on exploring the historical economic successes of England and Japan; Scientific enterprise and the colonial ’model’: observations on Australian experience in historical context; Support for the scientific enterprise, 1850-1900; Intellectual dependency and the sources of invention: Britain and the Australian technological system in the 19th century; Meiji economic development in perspective: revisionist comments upon the Industrial Revolution in Japan; Science, technology and economic development: Japanese historical experience in context; Catching up and hanging on: the formation of Science in Japan; The other side of Meiji: conflict and conflict management; Prometheus bound: technology and industrialization in Japan, China and India prior to 1914 - a political approach; Colonial and neo-colonial transfers of technology: perspectives on India before 1914; Into the 20th century: patterns in the relations between science, technology and the state during the early industrialisation process; Index.
Summary
A collection of 13 essays studying Britain, Japan, Europe, China, India and Australasia from 1700 to the present. The texts illustrate a "political economy" approach to industrial and technological history, demonstrating the relationship between technical and institutional transformations.
Additional text
’...this collection testifies to the breadth of Inkster’s historical interests and the value of his profoundly comparative, institutionalist approach.’ Isis, Vol. 91, No.1 'One cannot read Inkster’s works without gaining an appreciation for the depth of his scholarship, new insights into the processes of industrialization and technology transfer, and a much more global view of these processes.' Industrial Archeology, vol. 26, no.2
