The Rational Optimist_ How Prosperity Evolves - Matt Ridley [217]
Prebisch, Raul 187
preservatives (in food) 145
Presley, Elvis 110
Priestley, Joseph 256
printing: on paper 181, 251, 252, 253, 272; on textiles 225, 232
prisoner’s dilemma game 96
property rights 130, 223, 226, 320, 321, 323–5
protectionism 186–7, 226
Ptolemy III 171
Pusu-Ken (Assyrian merchant) 165–6
putting out system 226, 227, 230
pygmy people 54, 67
Pythagoras 171
Quarterly Review 284
quasars 275
Quesnay, François 42
racial segregation 108
racism 104, 415
radioactivity 293–4, 345
radios 264–5, 271
railways 252; and agriculture 139, 140–41; opposition to 283–4; speed of 283, 286; travel costs 23
rainforests 144, 149, 150, 240, 243, 250–51, 338
Rajan, Raghuram 317
Rajasthan 162, 164
Ramsay, Gordon 392
rape seed 240
Ratnagar, Shereen 162
ravens 69
Rawls, John 96
Read, Leonard 38
recession, economic 10, 28, 113, 311
reciprocity 57–9, 87, 95, 133
Red Sea 66, 82, 127, 170, 174, 177
Rees, Martin 294
Reformation 253
refrigeration 139
regress, technological 78–84, 125, 181–2, 197–200, 351, 380
Reiter, Paul 336, 428
religion 4, 104, 106, 170, 357, 358, 396; and population control 205, 207–8, 211; see also Buddhism; Christianity; Islam
Rembrandt 116
Renaissance 196
research and development budgets, corporate 260, 262, 269
Research in Motion (company) 265
respiratory disease 18, 307, 310
restaurants 17, 37, 61, 254, 264
Rhine, River 265–6
rhinoceroses 2, 43, 51, 68, 73
Rhodes, Cecil 322
Ricardo, David 75, 169, 187, 193, 196, 249, 274
rice 32, 126, 143, 146–7, 153, 154, 156, 198
Rifkin, Jeremy 306
Riis, Jacob 16
Rio de Janeiro, UN conference (1992) 290
risk aversion 294–5
Rivers, W.H.R. 81
Rivoli, Pietra 220, 228
‘robber-barons’ 23–4, 100, 265–6
Rockefeller, John D. 23, 281
Rocky Mountains 238
Rogers, Alex 340
Roman empire 161, 166, 172, 173–5, 184, 214, 215, 259–60, 357
Rome 158, 175
Romer, Paul 269, 276–7, 328, 354
Roosevelt, Franklin D. 109
Roosevelt, Theodore 288
Rosling, Hans 368
Rothschild, Nathan 89
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 43, 96, 104, 137
Royal Institution 221
rubber 220
rule of law 116–18, 325
Rumford, Benjamin Thompson, Count 221
rural to urban migration 158, 188–9, 210, 219–20, 226–7, 231, 406
Ruskin, John 104
Russia, post-Soviet 14; oil and gas production 31, 37; population decline 205
Russia, prehistoric 71, 73
Russia, Tsarist 216, 229, 324
Rwanda 14, 316
rye 124, 125, 199, 224, 286
Sachs, Jeffrey 208
Saddam Hussein 161
Sahel region 123, 334
Sahlins, Marshall 133, 135
Sahul (landmass) 66, 67
Salisbury, Wiltshire 194
Salk, Jonas 38, 261
salmon 297
Salmon, Cecil 142
saltpetre 140
Sanger, Frederick 412
Sanskrit 129
São Paulo 190, 315
Sargon of Akkad 164
SARS virus 307, 310
satellites 252, 253
satnav (satellite navigation systems) 268
Saudi Arabia 238
Saunders, Peter 102
Schumpeter, Joseph 113–14, 227, 260, 276, 302
science, and innovation 255–8, 412
Scientific American 280
Scotland 103, 199–200, 227, 263, 315
scrub jays 87
scurvy 14, 258
sea level, changes in 128, 314, 333–4
Seabright, Paul 93, 138
seals (for denoting property) 130
search engines 245, 256, 267
Second World War 289
segregation, racial 108
Seine, River 215
self-sufficiency 8, 33–5, 39, 82, 90, 133, 192, 193, 351; and poverty 41–2, 132, 200, 202, 226–7
selfishness 86, 87, 93–4, 96, 102, 103, 104, 106, 292
Sematech (non-profit consortium) 267–8
Sentinelese people 67
serendipity 257, 346
serfs 181–2, 222
serotonin 156, 294
sexism 104, 136
sexual division of labour 61–5, 136, 376
sexual reproduction 2, 6, 7, 45, 56, 271; of ideas 6–7, 270–72
Sforza, house of 184
Shady, Ruth 162
Shakespeare, William 2; The Merchant of Venice 101, 102
Shang dynasty 166
Shapiro, Carl 265
sheep 97, 176, 194, 197
Shell (corporation) 111
shellfish 52, 53, 62, 64, 79, 92, 93, 127, 163, 167
Shennan, Stephen 83, 133
Shermer,