Everything that rises must converge

Abstract

This essay uses the case of the so-called rice revolution in the United Sates (c. 1885-1915) both to explain how a radically different approach to growing rice came about and to gain insight into the broader process of technological change in agriculture. There are several possible ways to interpret this revolution, one whereby rice was grown for the first time in history as a land-extensive, capital-intensive crop employing little labor. In the essay the author discusses several such interpretations, develops one of his own, and discusses some of the long-term implications of the “rice revolution”.