<P> The present article includes both perspectives . </P> <P> The twenty - first century has seen renewed interest in the history of capitalism, and "History of Capitalism" has become a field in its own right, with courses in history departments . In the 2000s, Harvard University founded the Program on the Study of U.S. Capitalism; Cornell University established the History of Capitalism Initiative; and Columbia University Press launched a monograph series entitled Studies in the History of U.S. Capitalism . This field includes topics such as insurance, banking and regulation, the political dimension, and the impact on the middle classes, the poor and women and minorities . These initiatives incorporate formerly neglected questions of race, gender, and sexuality into the history of capitalism . They have grown in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007--2008 and the associated Great Recession . </P> <P> According to some historians, the modern capitalist system has its origin in the "crisis of the fourteenth century", a conflict between the land - owning aristocracy and the agricultural producers, or serfs . Manorial arrangements inhibited the development of capitalism in a number of ways . Serfs had obligations to produce for lords and therefore had no interest in technological innovation; they also had no interest in cooperating with one another since they produced to sustain their own families . The lords who owned the land relied on force to guarantee that they were provided with sufficient food . Because lords were not producing to sell on the market, there was no competitive pressure for them to innovate . Finally, because lords expanded their power and wealth through military means, they spent their wealth on military equipment or on conspicuous consumption that helped foster alliances with other lords; they had no incentive to invest in developing new productive technologies . </P> <P> The demographic crisis of the fourteenth century upset this arrangement . This crisis had several causes: agricultural productivity reached its technological limitations and stopped growing, bad weather led to the Great Famine of 1315--1317, and the Black Death of 1348--1350 led to a population crash . These factors led to a decline in agricultural production . In response, feudal lords sought to expand agricultural production by expanding their domains through warfare; they therefore demanded more tribute from their serfs to pay for military expenses . In England, many serfs rebelled . Some moved to towns, some purchased land, and some entered into favorable contracts to rent lands from lords who needed to repopulate their estates . </P>

Industrialization brought capitalism into existence through the use of the factors of production