"Survival of the Richest" and the Industrial Revolution

Clark dismisses the widely held view that good institutions are essential for growth. He argues that pre-industrial England had all the factors that classical, neoclassical and institutional economists think was required for economic growth. Even then it was not able to break the Malthusian trap before 1800. He maintains that England was able to break the Malthusian trap because under the constraints of Malthusian grip the English societies were subject to natural selection, leading to better quality labor and cultural, and perhaps genetic, transmission of bourgeois virtues across generations. As mentioned earlier, he brings in the concept of the survival of the richest and argues that the rich English people bred more while poorer ones abstained from reproducing just prior to the Industrial Revolution. The richer families took good care of children and educated them with good middle class virtues, entrepreneurial instincts, hardworking habits, prudence, thrift, and peace. These middle class values were transmitted and shared across generations both “culturally and genetically”. This ultimately placed England ahead of its rivals (mainly China, India, and Japan) in attaining a growth rate sufficient enough to break the Malthusian trap. He also dismisses the idea that incentives played a crucial role in spurring economic growth.