Perspectives on Technology

Part I. Some origins of American technology: 1. Technological change in the machine tool industry, 1840–1910; 2. America's rise to woodworking leadership; 3. Anglo-American wage differences in the 1820's; Part II. The generation of new technologies: 4. Problems in the economist's conceptualization of technological innovation; 5. Neglected dimensions in the analysis of economic change; 6. The direction of technological change: inducement mechanisms and focusing devices; 7. Karl Marx on the economic role of science; Part III. Diffusion and adaptation of technology: 8. Capital goods, technology, and economic growth; 9. Economic development and the transfer of technology: some historical perspectives; 10. Selection and adaptation in the transfer of technology: steam and iron in America 1800–1870; 11. Factors affecting the diffusion of technology; Part IV. Natural resources, environment and the growth of knowledge: 12. Technology and the environment: an economic exploration; 13. Technological innovation and natural resources: the niggardliness of nature reconsidered; 14. Innovative responses to materials shortages; 15. Science, invention, and economic growth.