ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the development of different models of technological change influencing people’s conceptualization of economic growth, of the creation of wealth, or, more generally, of historical progress and development. An understanding of the importance of the role of science and technology and of the progress of both can be traced back to the founders of modern economic thought during the Enlightenment of the 18th century. Adam Smith pointed out that there was a direct link between the ongoing division of labor and the improvements in machinery in his ‘Wealth of Nations’. Karl Marx, for whose criticism of capitalism Smith’s analyses were of fundamental importance, was not only among the first to identify all factors of production, but he also placed a clearly larger emphasis on science and technology than did Smith. Under the impression of the industrialization of England, he saw technology as an important, if not the single most important driving force for historical change.
