We'd rather be hanged than starved! : the politics of provisions -- The genesis of provision politics, 1527-1660 -- The recession of provision politics, 1660-1739 : a political nation of producers -- Bolting mills and marketplaces : The formative generation of the politics of provisions,...

Preindustrial businesses: the time of the merchant -- The many paths to industrialization -- British and German businesses during industrialization -- Big and small businesses in industrializing America -- Japanese and Chinese businesses during industrialization -- American, British, and German...

Introduction -- The stock market in early modern England -- Politics, warfare and finance -- Financial innovation and trade -- The bubble and the crash -- Reasons to invest in the South Sea Company -- Criticism and financial complexity -- The social history of the crash -- The real effects of...

"The industrial revolution transformed the productive power of societies. It did so by vastly increasing the individual productivity, thus delivering whole populations from poverty. In this new account by one of the world's acknowledged authorities the central issue is not simply how the...