Technology as a Factor of Economic Leadership

Abstract

Technologically based civilizations are a relatively recent historical phenomenon: probably their birth can be identified with the industrial revolution. The classical economists were witnessing the early stages of this development; their interest was attracted by their major discovery: the formidable potential of free markets to generate economic wealth, whatever the level attained of technological development. Their top priority was to remove the existing obstacles to the functioning of competition in national markets and among nations; production technology would probably evolve faster in a free market environment, but the matter was obviously of a secondary importance compared to the previous one.