ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the shorter thematic cycle in both the British Mercantilist and Capitalist periods. It argues that in response to changes in economic performance, systematic changes occur in the interpretations of economic and social reality that are offered by elites to justify policy. The chapter presents preliminary results based on graphing Goldstein's economic data and the content analysis data for the Mercantilist period. Then the chapter also provides a brief description of the several dynamics that cause or result from the K-cycle and the short culture cycle, and a description of the relationships among them. If K-cycles as such do exist prior to the 1790s, then this fact casts doubt on innovation theories, which require a certain level of scientific and technological achievement as a base to begin with, and which require a capitalism relatively unfettered by the remnants of traditional society.
