Following the approach of R.M. Hartwell, the influential historian of the British Industrial Revolution, these essays explore the cultural contexts and institutional constraints that have shaped growth and development over the past two centuries. This book offers new perspectives on why economic development took place where and when it did. The chapters cover: social progress during economic development; the influence of cultural values on social and economic change; economic foundations of development - labour, capital and technology; and organizational arrangements - property rights, government and markets. These studies should appeal to economists, historians and social scientists alike for their treatments of economic development and cultural change.