An Economic History of British Steam Engines, 1774-1870 A Study on Technological Diffusion

This book traces the diffusion trajectory of the second and third generation of British steam engines, the Watt and high-pressure models, covering the period 1774 to 1870. It begins by subjecting to econometric analysis the latest version of Dr. Kanefsky's database on 18th century steam engines coming up with an upward revision of the total amount of horsepower installed by 1800. Subsequent chapters delve into the determinants of the diffusion process through the third quarter of the 19th century relating to engines used both in mining and industry as well as transportation (railways, steam cars). 

The book's main contribution to the literature lies in drawing material from a very large volume of 18th- and 19th-century sources found in the Dibner Library of Rare Books, Smithsonian, and by utilizing a fair amount of technical literature pertaining to the economic factors driving the diffusion process. This great expansion of the empirical material has led to bringing multiple revisions to the work of other authors on the key aspects and determinants of the diffusion process. In conjunction with the publication by the author of an earlier monograph on the first generation of steam engines, the Newcomen model, the present study completes the task of offering the most comprehensive account of the preeminent and most strategic technology of the British Industrial Revolution.

This book will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers of economic history and history of technology, interested in a better understanding of the industrial revolution in general and the role of British steam engines in particular. 

PART 1: 1774-1800.- Chapter 1. The Extent of Steam Power Diffusion in Britain, 1774-1800: A Revision.- Chapter 2. Engineering Skills and the Efficiency of Steam Engines During Watt’s Patent.- Chapter 3. The Annual Cost of Watt vs. Newcomen Engines During the Duration of Watt’s Patent and the Threshold Price of Coal.- Chapter 4. The Cost of Alternative Power Sources in the Late Eighteenth Century: A Comparative Perspective.- PART 2: 1800-1870.- Chapter 5. The Emergence of High-ressure Cornish Engines: The Role of the Patent System and the Theory of Collective Invention.- Chapter 6. The Evolution of Cornish Duties and the Expansion of the Engineering Industry.- Chapter 7. Comparative Costs and the Diffusion of Steam and Water Power, 1800-70.- Chapter 8. Steam Power in Transportation: Railways.- Chapter 9. Dead Ends in the History of Technology: The Case of Steam Cars.- Chapter 10. Epilogue.

Haris Kitsikopoulos is the creator and academic director of a program of advanced summer seminars (Unbound Prometheus) and a former Clinical Professor at the Economics Department of New York University, USA. His work focuses on British economic history, from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution, with particular emphasis on how institutions affect technological innovation and long-term economic growth. He has edited a collection of essays on the European economies of the late Middle Ages (Agrarian Change and Crisis in Europe, 1200-1500) and authored a book on the first generation of British steam engines (Innovation and Technological Diffusion: An Economic History of Early Steam Engines). He is also the author of several articles some of which appeared in leading journals in the field of economic history (e.g., Journal of Economic History, Economic History Review, and Agricultural History Review). Dr. Kitsikopoulos has been invited as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Tokyo and has held research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities (twice) and the Smithsonian. He is also the recipient of the Henry Allen Moe Prize, awarded for the best article published in the journal of the American Philosophical Society, the oldest academic institution in the US.