Here’s an alternative hypothesis for why the Chinese didn’t adopt the press, even after the introduction of paper. It also explains why the Chinese didn’t adopt wind/water mills, artillery, the slave trade, and ultimately automation: the cost of capital relative to labor was much higher in China than Europe. Across the board, we see much lower Chinese adoption of capital-intensive technology in favor of labor-intensive alternatives, even when the technical prerequisites were met centuries earlier.
It’s interesting that Gutenberg was running a company on a loan in a free city with 25 employees. It’s was a very modern of operating.
Stromers water-based paper mill near Nürnberg was also build near a free city. In both cases the businesses didn’t run in an area where the aristocracy had power.
I’ve been chewing on that one a lot. I don’t have a satisfying answer yet. The sheer size/density of the population is one hypothesis, and crop yields are another (rice vs wheat). But I don’t feel like I understand it yet.
Here’s an alternative hypothesis for why the Chinese didn’t adopt the press, even after the introduction of paper. It also explains why the Chinese didn’t adopt wind/water mills, artillery, the slave trade, and ultimately automation: the cost of capital relative to labor was much higher in China than Europe. Across the board, we see much lower Chinese adoption of capital-intensive technology in favor of labor-intensive alternatives, even when the technical prerequisites were met centuries earlier.
It’s interesting that Gutenberg was running a company on a loan in a free city with 25 employees. It’s was a very modern of operating.
Stromers water-based paper mill near Nürnberg was also build near a free city. In both cases the businesses didn’t run in an area where the aristocracy had power.
China didn’t have free cities.
Hmm, interesting. But why was the cost of capital relative to labor so high?
I’ve been chewing on that one a lot. I don’t have a satisfying answer yet. The sheer size/density of the population is one hypothesis, and crop yields are another (rice vs wheat). But I don’t feel like I understand it yet.