I hope this is not a repeat on this blog. Der Spiegel published two months ago a discussion of the work of Historian Eckhard Höffner. He argues that the fragmentation of Germany in the 19th century made it impossible to enforce copyright laws, if there were any. This lead to the massive availability of books, and to the publication of ten times as many titles as in the UK, where copyright was strictly enforced. This transformed Germany into a country of readers.

Michele Boldrin and David Levine have made the same argument in their book when comparing the copyright enforcement in the UK and the lack thereof in the United States, which lead to a boom of readership and then literacy in the US. Höffner makes the same point for Germany. He goes as far as claiming that this boost in readership and thus knowledge is the origin of the great expansion of German industry, much stronger than in the neighboring countries or Britain. Indeed, plenty of manuals and handbooks were published that made knowledge much more widely available, In Britain, this was limited to the elite, and the common people had to learn from hearsay.

I hope this is not a repeat on this blog.

It is, and it sparked an incendiary flamewar in the comments to boot.

Sitting back to watch the fireworks.

Pass the popcorn ...