[vlz]

I agree on the importance of the industrial revolution. An alternative explanation, that argues more from political institutions, can be found in Acemoglu and Robinsons "Why Nations Fail" [0]. They basically argue that for most of our history, individual innovators. In most countries most of the time, a small minority, which is in power, would either profit from the innovation instead or would actively suppress innovation to protect the status quo. Only when institutions were developed that included a lot of people in the decision making process, would we also develop protections for individual innovators, that would allow them to profit from their work in a meaningful way.

I generally find it hard to pin down to what degree culture motivates people to action and think that explanations should be preferred, that show how single individuals or groups might directly profit from certain actions.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Nations_Fail