There were obstacles to revolutionary productivity growth by way of capital accumulation everywhere, including the Christian world. Like Weber, Kuran seems motivated to find that which was a distinctive obstacle in non Europe vis a vis Europe and then conclude that those distinctive obstacles explain non Europe's putative stagnation. But the question is why Europe was able to overcome its obstacles. Well the merchant class became powerful enough to reshape institutions. Perhaps the Atlantic trade, enabled by land grabs and the slave trade, was a huge source of power for merchants who grew powerful enough to reshape institutions; perhaps American land removed ecological obstacles; and well placed coal deposits helped too.
_______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
