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Constitutional causes for technological leadership: Why Europe?

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Knowledge, Technology & Policy

Abstract

In a paper circulated toward the end of 1997 under the title “Why Europe?,” Gordon Tullock posed a simple question and provided a tentative, yet provocative answer. The question is why the technological takeoff took place in Europe when well into the eighteenth century other areas of the world, notably China, looked much better poised for technological and scholarly leadership than Europe. His tentative answer turns on the constitutional composition of the landscape of political entities in Europe. This essay provides further underpinnings to Gordon Tullock’s preliminary answer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany

    Jürgen G. Backhaus (the Krupp Foundation Chair in Public Finance and Fiscal Sociology)

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  1. Jürgen G. Backhaus
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Backhaus, J.G. Constitutional causes for technological leadership: Why Europe?. Know Techn Pol 15, 61–80 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12130-003-1007-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12130-003-1007-7

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