In studying the economic history of England before the Industrial Revolution, Professor Gregory Clark discovered an interesting fact. Examining archival data on wills and estates, he found that children of the more affluent members of English society were more likely to survive than those of the less affluent. Coupled with the slow growth of population over several centuries, this differential survival of the wealthy had the effect of creating downward mobility for the rich, as their sons and daughters increasingly populated the society.
According to Professor Clark, this change had profound effects on English society. The cultural habits of the rich filtered through the entire society. Social virtues such as thrift, prudence, and hard work became more commonplace, while impulsive and violent behaviors were reduced. Eventually, these changes in culture became sufficiently pronounced that a qualitative change took place in society. Individuals now were able to take advantage of new developments in science and technology and embrace new technologies and social change.
Economists Oded Galor and Omer Moav suggest that development can be viewed in more traditional evolutionary terms. They argue that at some point during the human evolutionary process, families that had fewer children but invested more in them, gained a competitive advantage in the evolutionary cycle. The offspring of these families had more human capital and more easily adapted to technological progress and the other changes that were taking place in societies. Human genetic evolution, in their view, set the stage for the Industrial Revolution. Both views share some similarities. According to Clark, the evolution was primarily cultural, whereas for Galor and Moav it was genetic. In both cases, however, humans transformed themselves as the Industrial Revolution began