CONTENTS -- FOREWORD -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- ABOUT THE AUTHORS -- LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ILLUSTRATIONS -- INTRODUCTION -- TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN CAPITAL FORMATION IN THE EAST AND WEST BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION -- Maarten Prak and Jan Luiten van Zanden -- Global History and Technology -- Technology, Skills, and Science -- Collective Invention -- Technological Leadership and Clustering -- Human Capital Formation -- Circulation of Knowledge -- Organisation of Labour -- Comparative History and the Great Divergence -- Conclusion -- PART ONE -- REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES -- CHAPTER ONE -- TRANSFERRING TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE AND INNOVATING IN EUROPE, C.1200-C.1800 -- Stephan R. Epstein -- Introduction -- Acquiring Experiential Knowledge -- Collective Knowledge and Technical Heuristics -- Knowledge Sharing -- Predictability, Codification and Innovation -- Drawings and Models as Heuristic Devices -- Experimentation -- Spatial Transfer of Technical Knowledge -- Texts and Patents -- Transferring Skilled Technicians: When and Why Did Craft Guilds Oppose Technical Innovation? -- Transferring Skilled Technicians: How Did It Work? -- Conclusions -- CHAPTER TWO -- APPRENTICESHIP AND INDUSTRIALIZATION IN INDIA, 1600-1930 -- Tirthankar Roy -- Craft Culture in Early Modern India -- Craft Culture and Apprenticeship in Colonial India -- Apprenticeship and Modern Industry -- Conclusion -- CHAPTER THREE -- SKILLS, 'GUILDS', AND DEVELOPMENT: ASKING EPSTEIN'S QUESTIONS TO EAST ASIAN INSTITUTIONS -- Kenneth Pomeranz -- Introduction -- The Rise of Guilds in Late Imperial China: Trade-based and Native Place-based Organisations -- Guild Functions, Economic and Otherwise -- City and Countryside -- Skill Formation and Technological Creativity -- Did Guilds Obstruct Technical Learning? -- Migration and Skill Diffusion in More Recent Times.

Skill Acquisition in Rural Industries -- Japan -- Conclusion -- PART TWO -- INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES -- CHAPTER FOUR -- MEGA-STRUCTURES OF THE MIDDLE AGES: THE CONSTRUCTION OF RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS IN EUROPE AND ASIA, C.1000-1500* -- Maarten Prak -- Introduction -- Church Building -- The Workforce -- Knowledge -- Apprenticeship and Other Sources of Information -- Conclusions -- CHAPTER FIVE -- THE TECHNOLOGY AND TEACHING OF SHIPBUILDING 1300-1800 -- Richard W. Unger -- Introduction -- Developments in Ship Design -- East and West: Cross-fertilization of Techniques -- Creation and Transfer of Knowledge -- Transferring Knowledge with the Written Word -- Disincentives for Technical Advance: Guilds and Market Structure -- Incentives for Technical Advance: Guilds, Profits and Training -- Conclusions -- CHAPTER SIX -- MOVING MACHINE-MAKERS: CIRCULATION OF KNOWLEDGE ON MACHINE-BUILDING IN CHINA AND EUROPE BETWEEN C. 1400 AND THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY -- Karel Davids -- Introduction -- Circulation of Knowledge on Machine-making in China, Late Fourteenth - Early Nineteenth Centuries -- Circulation of Knowledge on Machine-making in Europe, Late Fourteenth - Early Nineteenth Centuries -- Conclusion: Comparative Perspectives on the Circulation of Knowledge in China and Europe -- CHAPTER SEVEN -- GUILDS AND APPRENTICESHIP IN CHINA AND EUROPE: THE JINGDEZHEN AND EUROPEAN CERAMICS INDUSTRIES -- Christine Moll-Murata -- Introduction -- Porcelain: Definitions and Early Exchange between China, the Middle East, and Europe -- Jingdezhen: General Setting and Supply for the European Market -- Number of Kilns and Size of Workforce -- Total Output -- Population Figures -- Professional Training in the Jingdezhen Porcelain Industry -- Alternatives to Guild-organised Apprenticeship -- Delft: General Setting -- Number of Enterprises and Size of Workforce.

Guilds and Apprenticeship in Delft -- Starting from Scratch: The Meissen and Vienna Porcelain Manufactures -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- Jiangxi Province with Jingdezhen and Home Places of the Common-origin Guilds. -- CHAPTER EIGHT -- LABOUR RELATIONS, EFFICIENCY AND THE GREAT DIVERGENCE: COMPARING PRE-INDUSTRIAL BRICKMAKING ACROSS EURASIA, 1500-2000 -- Gijs Kessler and Jan Lucassen -- The Historical Dynamics of Co-operation in Production -- A Global, Comparative Perspective -- Brickmaking in Western Europe from the Late Middle Ages until the Nineteenth Century -- Division of Labour and Co-operation in Production -- Production and Productivity -- Russian Brickmaking between the Late Sixteenth and the Early Twentieth Centuries -- Division of Labour and Co-operation in Production -- Production and Productivity -- Indian Brickmaking from c. 1800 -- Division of Labour and Co-operation in Production -- Conclusion -- CHAPTER NINE -- EXPLAINING THE GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF BOOK PRODUCTION BEFORE 1800 -- Jan Luiten van Zanden -- Introduction -- Three Diffusion Processes -- Quality -- Font Size -- Relative Prices -- Size of the Market -- Conclusion -- Bibliography of the books and articles published by S.R. Epstein -- INDEX.