This paper considers the possible contribution of spatial competition to the Industrial Revolution and the Great Divergence. Rather than exclusively focusing on the incentives of producers to adopt labor-saving technology, we also consider the incentives of factor suppliers’ organizations such as craft guilds to resist. Once we do so, industrialization no longer depends on market size per se, but on spatial competition between the guilds’ jurisdictions. We substantiate our theory’s claim of spatial competition being an important channel for industrialization (i) by providing historical evidence on the relation between spatial competition, craft guilds and innovation, and (ii) by showing that the calibrated model correctly predicts the timings of the Industrial Revolution and the Great Divergence.

中文翻译：

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空间竞争，创新与制度：工业革命与巨大差异

本文考虑了空间竞争对工业革命和大分歧的可能贡献。我们不仅关注生产者采用节省劳力的技术的动机，还考虑了工艺协会等要素供应商组织的抗拒动机。一旦这样做，工业化就不再取决于市场规模本身，而是取决于行会辖区之间的空间竞争。我们证实了理论的观点，即空间竞争是工业化的重要渠道（i）通过提供有关空间竞争，手工艺协会与创新之间关系的历史证据，以及（ii）通过证明经过校准的模型可以正确预测工业化的时机。革命与大分歧。