ABSTRACT
The accumulation of capital has been a major interest of economists since Adam Smith, and of economic historians since economic history emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as an academic discipline. The historians now question the basic importance of capital formation in the making of the industrial revolution, as the size and composition of the necessary diversion of resources for capital formation. Ever since Malthus, economists have been concerned with long-term economic change, and, in particular, with the long-term relationship between population and resources. A persistent theme in history is the impact of technological change on society and economy. The economic historians, then, have recognized the importance of technological change, have raised many problems, have imparted much information, but have not analysed technological change in a systematic way. A. Marshall reckoned that organization should be considered as a distinct agent of production.
