Argues that on the basis of evidence of British soldiers there was a threat of a Malthusian crisis on the eve of the Industrial Revolution.

The discovery of the New World enabled the nutritional status of the European populations to be maintained sufficiently to avoid a major Malthusian catastrophe as in prior centuries.

Constructs and analyzes an index of industrial Production for Hungary between 1830-1913.

Considers the development of the European economies from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution to argue that the accumulation of physical and human capital played a major role in the escape from the Malthusian trap.