Published in 1982 this is an introductory study of the international spread of modern industrial technology. The book considers the preconditions necessary for a country to adopt effectively modern industrial technology in the nineteenth century and the mechanisms by which this technology spread from one country to another.

Part 1: The Process of Industrialisation and the Diffusion of Technology 1. Technological Diffusion and Nineteenth-Century Industrialisation 2. The Spread of Industrialisation Before 1914 Part 2: The Spread of Modern Industrial Technology: Preconditions 3. The Spread of Modern Agricultural Techniques Before 1914 4. The Size of the Market 5. Saving and the Rate of Capital Accumulation 6. The Financial Environment 7. Industrialisation and Labour Supply 8. Resource Endowment and Industrialisation 9. The Technical Factor in Industrialisation 10. Industrialisation and Entrepreneurship Part 3: The Spread of Modern Industrial Technology: Mechanisms 11. The International Economy and the Diffusion of Modern Industrial Technology 12. The Competitive Market Economy 13. Investment Banks and Industrialisation in the Nineteenth Century 14. Industrialisation and the State 15. Industrialisation After 1914