Ch 1. The way we live now - and the way we once lived -- Ch. 2. Debates and theories -- Ch. 3. Song China and the Ming restoration - a case study -- Ch. 4. The military revolution and the world it made -- Ch. 5. The European divergence -- Ch. 6. The scientific revolution and the shaping of the...

Innovation is an important source of economic growth. It increases productivity and creates wealth by freeing up resources to be used for other activity and hence more output. Despite its economic importance, innovation is still not fully understood and is difficult to predict. In pre-modern...

Pandemics are a recurring feature of human history. The COVID-19 virus has several features that mean it poses a particularly severe challenge. It threatens to cause a collapse of hospital systems through a high number of serious cases arising in a short period of time, and this, rather than...

Intro -- _GoBack -- About the authors -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Summary -- 1 How many light bulbs does it take to change the world? -- Matt Ridley -- How does innovation cause economic growth? -- Barriers to innovation -- References -- 2 Questions and discussion -- 3 Innovation, growth...