(^548) NOTES
- Héron de Villefosse in 1803, cited in Woronoff, L'industrie sidérurgique, p. 318.
The reference may be to the brief Peace of Amiens, which gave the French a chance
to bring in British entrepreneurs and technicians. - MacLeod, "Strategies for Innovation," p. 302.
- Kuznets saw this era as beginning in the seventeenth century. He was too hasty in
his dating. But the link is correct: it is the combination of science and technology that
made the différence. - See a devastating critique of Reaumur's judgment and influence by Frédéric Le
Play in the Annales des Mines, 9 (1846), cited in Harris, "Attempts to Transfer Eng
lish Steel Techniques," in Essays in Industry, p. 109, n. 18. On Reaumur, see ibid., p.
- Woronoff, L'industrie sidérurgique, p. 351.
- Ibid., pp. 352-53.
- On Fischer, see Henderson, /. C. Fischer. Fischer kept invaluable diaries, which
have been edited and published by Karl Schib. - On this story, see Haber, Chemical Industry, pp. 128-36,169-98; and Travis, The
Rainbow Makers, pp. 237-39, who stresses the open-mindedness of young German
chemists on a technological roll. - Haber, Chemical Industry, p. 84.
- Milward and Saul, Economic Development, p. 230.
CHAPTER 19
- I take these figures from Engerman and Sokoloff, "Factor Endowments," Table
4; see the sources cited there. It should be remembered that such estimates, especially
those for earlier years, are figments, the product of heroic manipulations and guess
work, to say nothing of errors and distortions in the original data—cf. Randall, "Lies,
Damn Lies, and Argentine GDP." The matter is further complicated by the fragility of
international comparisons that do not rest on purchasing power parity. If one were to
incorporate the collapse of the Mexican peso in December 1994-January 1995, for ex
ample, the Mexican results would look even weaker. Whatever; the general picture of
more rapid American growth is reliable. For another set of estimates, based on estate
data converted to income (grossly approximate), see Garcia, "Economic Growth," pp.
53-54. - See, among other discussions: Caves, " 'Vent for Surplus' Models of Trade" and
"Export-Led Growth"; Baldwin, "Patterns of Development"; Watkins, "A Staple The
ory of Economic Growth"; and Garcia, "Economic Growth and Stagnation." - This is the thesis of Stanley Engerman and Kenneth Sokoloff in their essay on
"Factor Endowments." An important and ingenious analysis. For parallel arguments
concerning the "endogenous" exploitation and production of raw materials (the U.S.
was more than lucky), see David and Wright, "Increasing Returns." - Fischer, Albion's Seed, p. 174.
- Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. IV, ch. 7, Part 2: "Causes of the Prosperity of New
Colonies." - Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. I, ch. 8: "Of the Wages of Labour."
- Both quotations come from Fischer, Albion's Seed, p. 560.
- See Hartley, Ironworks on the Saugus.
- Cited in Oliver, History of American Technology, p. 89.
- Fischer, Albion's Seed, p. 860.
- A newer generation of economic historians is not happy with what are dismissed
as "intellectually unproductive cultural essentialist explanations," "notoriously slip
pery and difficult to assess," and argues for regression analysis using "clearly, specified,