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You are confusing cause and effect. The revolution (upturning of a system) refers to the cause of the increase of the exponential growth, not the consequence.

There is a very sharp bend in the growth rate in the 19th century. Even more interestingly, it produced a sharp uptick in global wealth even though industrialization itself did not immediately diffuse uniformly and completely around the globe.



The UK was an empire of some global influence in the 19th Century, a number of events occurred during that time, eg: a sizable fraction of the commercial traders got to share in a (modern) £17bn bailout following the abolition of slavery.

While having "lost" ownership of slaves many still retained profit sharing in the industries, cotton production, coffee, sugar, etc. and now had lump sums for capital investment in new colonies, new canals, new railroads, new factories, new steam engines, etc.


Exactly. The switch from hydropower to steam was a minor detail in the larger context.


> There is a very sharp bend in the growth rate in the 19th century

Not really.




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