Social Class and the Spirit of Capitalism
回顾了分析英国工业革命向现代资本主义转型的经济理论,重点探讨贵族为何在财富和教育优势下未能成为工业化的主要推动者和受益者,并介绍基于内生偏好模型的研究。
The British Industrial Revolution was a time of major socio-economic transformations.We review a number of recent economic theories which analyze the transition from a preindustrial world characterized by high fertility, stationary standards of living, and rigid social hierarchies to modern capitalism.One of the key social transformations that accompanied the Industrial Revolution was the economic decline of the aristocracy.Standard theories of wealth inequality cannot explain why the aristocrats, in spite of their superior wealth and education, failed to be the main protagonists and beneficiaries of industrialization.We discuss recent research based on a model of endogenous preferences that is consistent with the demise of aristocracy.