Middle Tennessee, 1775-1825: Progress and Popular Democracy on the Southwestern Frontier Book

Mokyr is an accessible, relatively jargon-free and not overly dogmatic economic historian. The Lever of Riches strikes the right balance between historical narrative and a modicum of economic theory, in order to defend a vision of growth which I think I am not entirely in agreement with, but which is well argued, coherent and which readily acknowledges its critics.
The author identifies early on four vectors of economic growth: investment (increased availability of funds), commercial expansion (opening of new markets), population growth (encouraging the division of labour) and, finally, what he terms 'Schumpeterian growth', essentially growth driven by technological progress, that is, by 'any change in the application of information to the production process in such a way as to increase efficiency, resulting either in the production of a given output with fewer ressources (i.e. lower costs), or the production of better or new products' (6). As such, then, it does not entail scientific 'discovery' but rather, often, the novel application of existing knowledge. Mokyr claims that technological change is 'spasmodic' - concentrated in specific periods (a comparison with Kuhn's time-table of scientific revolutions would be interesting!) and for most of history was rarely the result of rational planning but is rather the result of 'creativity', 'an attack by an individual on a constraint that everyone else takes as given'(9). He divides technological change between innovation, the spread of best practices which he finds to be social and collective, and invention, which is some sort of qualitative leap taken by Great Men, and as such is a more individual and maybe heroic feat: That's the bit I am not too comfortable with: too Schumpeterian probably. This solitary inventor struggling to tease out the secrets of nature (11) sounds to me like the not-so-unlikely love-child of a romantic artist and acaptain of industry (Doctor Frankenstein or Elon Musk, take your pick!) The two aspects, collective innovation and solitary invention, however, are deeply intertwined, so that the growth of the one without the other is at best unlikely. Innovation, then, the spread of best-practices and technological know-how, is crucial, and luckily is the focus of most of the book. So even if, like me, you don't buy the whole solitary genius scenario, the book is still very much readable, enjoyable and informative!
Mokyr identifies three necessary condition for technological growth to take place: first, the presence in the given society of class willing to take risks and to challenge the common ways and beliefs. Second, economic and social institutions that encourage and incentivize such innovation. Third, a society that encourage diversity and tolerance. The book is divided in two parts, first a general and relatively rapid history of Western technology, from antiquity to the XXth century, which covers a wide range of topics and is both stimulating and accessible. The second part is composed of small comparative studies, tackling some of the most well known quandaries of world history: a comparison between classical and medieval technology, another between China's and Europe's 'Great divergence', and the last one tackling the question of why the Industrial Revolution took place in Britain rather than the continent.
All in all it's well written, it's polished and measured, a good introduction to the subject even for someone like me who knows next to nothing about either economic or technological history.