As Time Goes By From the Industrial Revolutions to the Information Revolution [Paperback]

The Internet and mobile telephones have made everyone more aware than ever of the computer revolution and its effects on the economy and society. 'As Time Goes By' puts this revolution in the perspective of previous waves of technical change: steam-powered mechanization, electrification, and motorization. It argues for a theory of reasoned economic history which assigns a central place to these successive technological revolutions.

Part I: History and Economics
Introduction: The Fundamental Things Apply
1. Restless Clio: A Story of the Economic Historians' Assessment of History in Economics
2. Schumpeter's Plea for Reasoned History
3. Nikolai Kondratiev: A New Approach to History and Statistics
4. The Strange Attraction of Tides and Waves
Conclusions: A Theory of Reasoned History
Part II: Successive Industrial Revolutions
Introduction: Technical Change and Long Waves in Economic Development
5. The British Industrial Revolution: The Age of Cotton, Iron, and Water Power
6. The Second Kondratiev Wave: The Age of Iron Railways, Steam Power, and Mechanization
7. The Third Kondratiev Wave: The Age of Steel, Heavy Engineering, and Electrification
8. The Fourth Kondratiev Wave: The Great Depression and the Age of Oil, Automobiles, Motorization, and Mass Production
9. The Emergence of a New Techno-economic Paradigm: The Age of Information and Communication Technology
Conclusions: Recurrent Phenomena of the Long Waves of Capitalist Development

Chris Freemanis Emeritus Professor at SPRU, University of Sussex. After studying at the London School of Economics, he later took up the position of Research Fellow at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, London (1959-66) before becoming Director of the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Susex (1966-81). His most recent position was Visiting Professor at the University of Limburg in Maastricht (198là