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Why didn't Rome have an industrial revolution?
What were the binding constraints on a Roman Industrial Revolution?
The ancient Roman empire hosted massive cities whose growth relied on large and growing agricultural surplus shipped in along trade networks spanning thousands of miles and tens of millions of inhabitants. It is not clear to me that there is a plausible and equally viable alternative path from an organic economy to an industrial one that doesn’t initially use coal (much easier to gather in large quantities and process for use than other fossil fuels) and which does not gain traction by transforming textile production. Understanding the unfulfilled potential of industrialized Rome counsels us to be more vigilant about identifying and pursuing opportunities for transformative technological and economic progress in our own time, lest we too inadvertently delay the next step forward in human prosperity.
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