"Knowledge and Industrial Development: The Stakes By "the first knowledge economy" we refer to the era of the Industrial Revolution, from roughly the 1760s to the 1850s, first in Britain and then in selected parts of northern and western Europe, with particular attention to Belgium"--

"The Industrial Revolution is central to the teaching of economic history. It has also been key to historical research on the commercial expansion of Western Europe, the rise of factories, coal and iron production, the proletarianization of labour, and the birth and worldwide spread of...