I don’t think patent laws are the key difference other property rights are more important.
Gutenberg was living in a free city and was able to take a loan to start a startup with 15-25 employees on the promise of an unproven technology without any patent laws protecting him. Merchants were strong enough at the time so that idea of creating a startup with the main motivation of financial return was viable.
Chinese rulers could just take whatever they wanted from merchants, so merchants were less powerful and did not make similar capital investments. When Europeans sailed across the oceans, they did it because the ability to make a profit from trade. When Chinese did it, they wanted to bring home gifts to the emperor.
The key difference is that European merchants could make very expensive capital investments that then produced returns and reinvest those returns to produce even more value.
I don’t think patent laws are the key difference other property rights are more important.
Gutenberg was living in a free city and was able to take a loan to start a startup with 15-25 employees on the promise of an unproven technology without any patent laws protecting him. Merchants were strong enough at the time so that idea of creating a startup with the main motivation of financial return was viable.
Chinese rulers could just take whatever they wanted from merchants, so merchants were less powerful and did not make similar capital investments. When Europeans sailed across the oceans, they did it because the ability to make a profit from trade. When Chinese did it, they wanted to bring home gifts to the emperor.
The key difference is that European merchants could make very expensive capital investments that then produced returns and reinvest those returns to produce even more value.