Jaume Ventura and Hans-Joachim Voth

Is debt really that bad? This column looks at the towering debts, rapid tax hikes, and constant state of war that led to Britain’s Industrial Revolution, showing that the devil is in the detail when assessing sovereign debt. When we consider the dangers of debt in today’s world, we should keep an eye on its potential benefits as well.

vox.eu
Debt miracle: Why the country that borrowed the most industrialised first
Jaume Ventura, Senior Researcher, CREI, Universitat Pompeu Fabra; International Macroeconomics Programme Director, CEPR, and Hans-Joachim Voth, Chair of Development and Emerging Markets at the Economics Department, Zurich University and CEPR Research Fellow

ht Ralph Musgrave

Tim Harford — What really powers innovation: high wages

Interesting analysis of why Britain was the scene of the Industrial Revolution and not China, or France. Innovation to increase productivity is driven by high domestic wages. Technology enables owners to do with fewer workers, so innovating has a cost incentive.

Why did the industrial revolution take off in the UK rather than in China?
The Undercover Economist
What really powers innovation: high wages
Tim Harford