Productivity improving technologies

This article is about the important technologies that have historically increased productivity.

Productivity in general is a ratio of output to input in the production of goods and services. Productivity is increased by lowering the amount of labor, capital, energy or materials that go into producing economic goods. Increases in productivity are largely responsible for the increase in per capita living standards.

Productivity improving technologies date back to antiquity, with rather slow progress until the late Middle Ages. Important examples of early to European medieval technology include the water wheel, the horse collar, the spinning wheel, the three field system (after 1500 the four field system-See: Crop rotation) and the blast furnace. All of these technologies had been in use in China, some for centuries, before being introduced to Europe.

Technological progress was aided by literacy and the diffusion of knowledge that accelerated after the spinning wheel spread to Western Europe in the 13th century. The spinning wheel increased the supply of rags used for pulp in paper making, whose technology reached Sicily sometime in the 12th century. Cheap paper was a factor in the development of the movable type printing press, which lead to a large increase in the number of books and titles published. Books on science and technology eventually began to appear, such as the mining technical manual De Re Metallica, which was the most important technology book of the 16th century and was the standard chemistry text for the next 180 years.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is known for the scientific method, which was a key factor in the scientific revolution. Bacon stated that the technologies that distinguished Europe of his day from the Middle Ages were paper and printing, gunpowder and the magnetic compass, known as the Four great inventions. The Four great inventions important to the development of Europe were of Chinese origin. Other Chinese inventions included the horse collar, cast iron, an improved plow and the seed drill. See also: List of Chinese inventions

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