The Rational Optimist_ How Prosperity Evolves - Matt Ridley [219]
Taverne, Dick, Baron 103
taxation: carbon taxes 346; and charitable giving 319; and consumption 27; and declining birth rates 211; early development of 160; and housing 25; and innovation 255; and intergenerational transfer 30; Mauryan empire 172; Roman empire 184; United States 25
Taylor, Barbara 103
tea 181, 182, 183, 202, 327, 392
telegraph 252–3, 257, 272, 412
telephones 252, 261; charges 22–3, 253; mobile 37, 252, 257, 261, 265, 267, 297, 326–7
television 38, 234, 252, 268
Telford, Thomas 221
Tennessee Valley Authority 326
termites 75–6
terrorism 8, 28, 296, 358
Tesco (retail corporation) 112
Tesla, Nikola 234
text messaging 292, 356
Thailand 320, 322
Thales of Miletus 171
Thames, River 17
thermodynamics 3, 244, 256
Thiel, Peter 262
Thiele, Bob 349
Thoreau, Henry David 33, 190
3M (corporation) 261, 263
threshing 124, 125, 130, 153, 198; machines 139, 283
thumbs, opposable 4, 51–2
Thwaites, Thomas 34–5
Tiberius, Roman emperor 174, 259
tidal and wave power 246, 343, 344
Tierra del Fuego 45, 62, 81–2, 91–2, 137
tigers 146, 240
timber 167, 216, 229; trade 158, 159, 180, 202
time saving 7, 22–4, 34–5, 123
Timurid empire 161
tin 132, 165, 167, 168, 213, 223, 303
‘tipping points’ 287–9, 290, 291, 293, 301–2, 311, 329
Tiwi people 81
Tokyo 190, 198
Tol, Richard 331
Tooby, John 57
tool making: early Homo sapiens 53, 70, 71; machine tools 211, 221; Mesopotamian 159, 160; Neanderthals 55, 71, 378; Palaeolithic hominids 2, 4, 7, 48–51; technological regress 80
Torres Strait islanders 63–4, 81
tortoises 64, 68, 69, 376
totalitarianism 104, 109, 181–2, 290
toucans 146
Toulouse 222
Townes, Charles 272
‘toy trade’ 223
Toynbee, Arnold 102–3
tractors 140, 153, 242
trade: and agriculture 123, 126, 127–33, 159, 163–4; early human development of 70–75, 89–93, 133–4, 159–60, 165; female-centred 88–9; and industrialisation 224–6; and innovation 168, 171; and property rights 324–5; and trust 98–100, 103; and urbanisation 158–61, 163–4, 167; see also bartering; exchange; markets
trade unions and guilds 113, 115, 223, 226
trademarks 264
traffic congestion 296
tragedy of the commons 203, 324
Trajan, Roman Emperor 161
transistors 271
transport costs 22, 23, 24, 37, 229, 230, 253, 297, 408
transport speeds 22, 252, 253, 270, 283–4, 286, 287, 296
trebuchets 275
Tressell, Robert 288
Trevithick, Richard 221, 256
Trippe, Juan 24
Trobriand islands 58
trust: between strangers 88–9, 93, 94–8, 104; and trade 98–100, 103, 104; within families 87–8, 89, 91
Tswana people 321, 322
tungsten 213
Turchin, Peter 182
Turkey 69, 130, 137
Turnbull, William (farm worker) 219
Turner, Adair, Baron 411
turning points in history, belief in 287–9, 290, 291, 293, 301–2, 311, 329
Tuscany 178
Tyneside 231
typhoid 14, 157, 310
typhus 14, 299, 310
Tyre 167, 168–9, 170, 328
Ubaid period 158–9, 160
Uganda 154, 187, 316
Ukraine 71, 129
Ulrich, Bernd 304
Ultimatum Game 86–7
unemployment 8, 28, 114, 186, 289, 296
United Nations (UN) 15, 40, 205, 206, 290, 402, 429
United States: affluence 12, 16–17, 113, 117; agriculture 139, 140–41, 142, 219–20; biofuel production 240, 241, 242; birth rates 211, 212; civil rights movement 108, 109; copyright and patent systems 265, 266; credit crunch (2008) 9, 28–9; energy use 239, 245; GDP, per capita 23, 31; Great Depression (1930s) 31, 109, 192; happiness 26–7; immigration 108, 199–200, 202, 259; income equality 18–19; industrialisation 219; life expectancy 298; New Deal 109; oil supplies 237–8; pollution levels 17, 279, 304–5; poverty 16–17, 315, 326; productivity 112–13, 117; property rights 323; rural to urban migration 219; slavery 216, 228–9, 415; tax system 25, 111, 241; trade 186, 201, 228
Upper Palaeolithic Revolution 73, 83, 235
urbanisation: and development of agriculture 128, 158–9, 163–4; global urban population totals 158, 189, 190; and population growth 209–210; and trade 158–61, 163–4, 167, 189–90; see also rural to urban migration
Uruguay 186
Uruk, Mesopotamia 159–61, 216
vaccines 17, 287, 310; polio 261, 275; smallpox 221
Vandals 175