ABSTRACT
Nevertheless, historians of the industrial revolution have ranged widely, from inquiries into the first use of the term and the dating of the upswing, through local, business, and industrial histories, to inconclusive and often confused discussion about causes and consequences. On any historical accounting, the industrial revolution is one of the great discontinuities of history; it would not be implausible indeed, to claim that it has been the greatest. The importance of capital formation for growth has been largely accepted by all economists and historians since Adam Smith, and it has been argued recently that the industrial revolution was no more than an acceleration in the rate of capital formation. Many economists now believe that the rate of growth is a function of the rate of technical change and its application to industry. The importance of a high level and expansion of demand for growth was firmly postulated by Adam Smith.
