Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
In 1900 7.2% of the US non-farm labor force worked for government (federal, state, and local), by 1950 that share was 13.3%, and by 2016 it rose only marginally to 14.2%
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
as well as the shift of crop production from food to animal feed.
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
1776 patent had expired did it become possible to develop new high-pressure designs suitable for mobile applications
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
By 2015 nearly 38% of the people living in the five boroughs were foreign born (the largest groups coming from the Dominican Republic, China, Mexico, and Jamaica) and they provided 45% of the city’s labor force
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
the supply of inexpensive fuels and electricity—created a powerful labor pull factor.
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
a new information sector and that consist of one or more of the following information-centered activities: collection (texts, data, images, multimedia), classification, aggregation, analysis, evaluation (generic and customized), transmission, and storage, all done in order to gain superior insights (be it into consumers’ decision-making or into an
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healthy life expectancy defined as the average number of years that a person can expect to live in “full health”:
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
Abundance of material possessions, frequent travel and massive information flows are among the most notable accomplishments of modern civilization,
Vaclav Smil • Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
consequences of the shift from subsistence to adequacy and then to ostentatious waste of resources.