Finance and Technical Change: A Long-term View

African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development Vol. 3, No. 1, 2011 — pp. 10-35The paper presents an alternative model of the emergence and propagation of technological revolutions. It proposes an explanation of the clustering and the spacing of technical cha nge in succe ssive revolutions. It provides arguments for the recurrence of clusters of bold financiers together with clusters of production entrepreneurs and an interpretation of major financial bubbles as massive episodes of credit creation, associated with the proce ss of assimilation of each technological revolution. It concludes by demonstrating that financial capital has a fundamental role in the articulation and propagation of technological revolutions.