The Rational Optimist_ How Prosperity Evolves - Matt Ridley [208]
brain size 3–4, 48–9, 51, 55
Bramah, Joseph 221
Branc, Slovakia 136
Brand, Stewart 154, 189, 205
Brando, Marlon 110
brass 223
Brazil 38, 87, 123, 190, 240, 242, 315, 358
bread 38, 124, 140, 158, 224, 286, 392
bridges, suspension 283
Brin, Sergey 221, 405
Britain: affluence 12, 16, 224–5, 236, 296–7; birth rates 195, 200–201, 206, 208, 227; British exceptionalism 200–202, 221–2; climate change policy 330–31; consumer prices 24, 224–5, 227, 228; copyright system 267; enclosure acts 226, 323, 406; energy use 22, 231–2, 232–3, 342–3, 368, 430; ‘glorious revolution’ (1688) 223; income equality 18–19, 218; industrial revolution 201–2, 216–17, 220–32, 255–6, 258–9; life expectancy 15, 17–18; National Food Service 268; National Health Service 111, 261; parliamentary reform 107; per capita income 16, 218, 227, 285, 404–5; productivity 112; property rights 223, 226, 323–4; state benefits 16; tariffs 185–6, 186–7, 223; see also England; Scotland; Wales
British Empire 161, 322
bronze 164, 168, 177
Brosnan, Sarah 59
Brown, Lester 147–8, 281–2, 300–301
Brown, Louise 306
Bruges 179
Brunel, Sir Marc 221
Buddhism 2, 172, 357
Buddle, John 412
Buffett, Warren 106, 268
Bulgaria 320
Burkina Faso 154
Burma 66, 67, 209, 335
Bush, George W. 161
Butler, Eamonn 105, 249
Byblos 167
Byzantium 176, 177, 179
cabbages 298
‘Caesarism’ 289
Cairo 323
Calcutta 190, 315
Calico Act (1722) 226
Califano, Joseph 202–3
California: agriculture 150; Chumash people 62, 92–3; development of credit card 251, 254; Mojave Desert 69; Silicon Valley 221–2, 224, 257, 258, 259, 268
Cambodia 14, 315
camels 135, 176–7
camera pills 270–71
Cameroon 57
Campania 174, 175
Canaanites 166, 396
Canada 141, 169, 202, 238, 304, 305
Canal du Midi 251
cancer 14, 18, 293, 297–9, 302, 308, 329
Cannae, battle of 170
canning 186, 258
canoes 66, 67, 79, 82
capitalism 23–4, 101–4, 110, 115, 133, 214, 258–62, 291–2, 311; see also corporations; markets
‘Captain Swing’ 283
capuchin monkeys 96–7, 375
Caral, Peru 162–3
carbon dioxide emissions 340–47; absorption of 217; and agriculture 130, 337–8; and biofuels 242; costs of 331; and economic growth 315, 332; and fossil fuels 237, 315; and local sourcing of goods 41–2; taxes 346, 356
Cardwell’s Law 411
Caribbean see West Indies
Carnegie, Andrew 23
Carney, Thomas 173
carnivorism 51, 60, 62, 68–9, 147, 156, 241, 376
carrots 153, 156
cars: biofuel for 240, 241; costs of 24, 252; efficiency of 252; future production 282, 355; hybrid 245; invention of 189, 270, 271; pollution from 17, 242; sport-utility vehicles 45
The Rational Optimist 424
Carson, Rachel 152, 297–8
Carter, Jimmy 238
Carthage 169, 170, 173
Cartwright, Edmund 221, 263
Castro, Fidel 187
Catalhoyuk 127
catallaxy 56, 355–9
Catholicism 105, 208, 306
cattle 122, 132, 145, 147, 148, 150, 197, 321, 336; see also beef
Caucasus 237
cave paintings 2, 68, 73, 76–7
Cavendish, Henry 221
cement 283
central heating 16, 37
cereals 124–5, 125–6, 130–31, 143–4, 146–7, 158, 163; global harvests 121
Champlain, Samuel 138–9
charcoal 131, 216, 229, 230, 346
charitable giving 92, 105, 106, 295, 318–19, 356
Charles V: king of Spain 30–31; Holy Roman Emperor 184
Charles, Prince of Wales 291, 332
Chauvet Cave, France 2, 68, 73, 76–7
Chernobyl 283, 308, 345, 421
Chicago World Fair (1893) 346
chickens 122–3, 145–6, 147, 148, 408
chickpeas 125
Childe, Gordon 162
children: child labour 104, 188, 218, 220, 292; child molestation 104; childcare 2, 62–3; childhood diseases 310; mortality rates 14, 15, 16, 208–9, 284
Chile 187
chimpanzees 2, 3, 4, 6, 29, 59–60, 87, 88, 97
China: agriculture 123, 126, 148, 152, 220; birth rate 15, 200–201; coal supplies 229–30; Cultural Revolution 14, 201; diet 241; economic growth and industrialisation 17, 109, 180–81, 187, 201, 219, 220, 281–2, 300, 322, 324–5, 328, 358; economic and technological regression 180, 181–2, 193, 229–30, 255, 321, 357–8; energy use 245; income equality 19; innovations 181, 251; life expectancy 15; Longshan culture 397; Maoism 16, 187, 296, 311; Ming empire 117, 181