The economic future in historical perspective / edited by Paul A. David & Mark Thomas.

Revised papers from an international symposium held in Oxford, 1-3 July 1999.

Introduction : Thinking historically about challenging economic issues / Paul A. David and Mark Thomas -- The industrious revolution and economic growth, 1650-1830 / Jan De Vries -- English apprenticeship : a neglected factor in the first industrial revolution / Jane Humphries -- Human capital and productivity performance : Britain, the United States and Germany, 1870-1990 / Stephen Broadberry -- General purpose technologies and surges in productivity : historical reflections on the future of the ICT revolution / Paul A. David and Gavin Wright -- Technological systems and comparative systems of innovation : from historical performance to future policy guidelines / Nick von Tunzelmann -- The East Asian escape from economic backwardness : retrospect and prospect / Nicholas Crafts -- The Russian transition through the historical looking-glass : gradual versus abrupt decontrol of economic systems in Britain and Russia / Christopher Davis and James Foreman-Peck -- Rational resistance to land privatization : the behaviour of Russia's rural producers in response to agrarian reforms, 1861-2000 / Carol Leonard -- Understanding the past to reshape the future : problems of South Africa's transition / Francis Wilson -- Lessons from Italy's monetary unification (1862-1880) for the euro and Europe's single market / Leandro Conte, Gianni Toniolo and Giovanni Vecchi -- Ideology and the shadow of history : a perspective on the Great Depression / Barry Eichengreen and Peter Temin -- Economic welfare measurements and human well-being / Avner Offer -- The human body in Britain : past and future / Roderick Floud -- Height and the high life : what future for a tall story? / Timothy Leunig and Hans-Joachim Voth --Producing health in past and present : the changing roles of scientific and alternative medicine / Anne Digby and Sheila Ryan Johansson -- An old poor law for the new Europe? Reconciling local solidarity with labour mobility in early modern England / Peter M. Solar and Richard M. Smith -- Paying for old age : past, present, future / Mark Thomas and Paul Johnson.