This book sheds new light on one of the most debated questions in economic history: Why did Britain lead the way in the First Industrial Revolution? It does so by examining Britain’s technological breakthroughs, especially steam power, in a global comparative context.

From the early modern period to the beginning of the 20th century, the book explores how Britain pioneered the first general-purpose technology of the modern era and how it spread to five other economies: Italy, the Dutch Republic, China, the United States, and Belgium.

Using various methodological approaches, the authors trace delays and distinctive national trajectories in adopting British innovations. The result is a nuanced picture of technological invention, energy transitions, and the institutional factors that shaped industrialization across regions. This book will appeal to scholars, researchers, and students interested in the little and Great Divergence debates, technological change, and the global history of industrialization.

Haris Kitsikopoulos is a former Clinical Professor at the Economics Department of New York University, USA, who is currently retired. His research explores British economic history from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution, focusing on how institutions shaped technological innovation and growth. He edited a collection of essays on Agrarian Change and Crisis in Europe, 1200–1500 and authored two books on British steam engines based on research at the Smithsonian Institution. His work has appeared in leading journals, including the Journal of Economic History and the Economic History Review. A former visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo, he has held fellowships from the NEH and Smithsonian and received the Henry Allen Moe Prize from the American Philosophical Society.

Joshua L. Rosenbloom is a Professor of Economics at Iowa State University, USA, and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Economic History Association, and the Cliometrics Association. He was chair of Iowa State’s Economics Department from 2015 to 2025. Prior to coming to Iowa State, he was on the faculty at the University of Kansas and directed the NSF’s Science and Innovation Policy Program. He is the author of Looking for Work, Searching for Workers: Labor Markets during American Industrialization and co-editor of two volumes of essays in economic history.