By the time of the Industrial Revolution, it had levelled-off. Rapid social capital accumulation provided a foundation for growth. Sociology nurtured technology. With some interruptions, notably the two World Wars of the 20th century, those trends towards lower levels of violence in society have continued to the present day. For example, war deaths have been falling secularly since the 1940s (Chart 10). This is consistent with a continuing accretion of social capital. 29 Although hard to quantify, this too is likely to have provided a tailwind to growth in the modern era. Infrastructural and institutional capital are widely believed to have supported the growth process. 30 England was the birth place of the Industrial Revolution. Its parents, arguably, were English institutions well into adolescence at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution: a parliamentary system from the 11th and 12th centuries; a legal and judicial system from the 12th and 13th centuries; a central bank, the Bank of England, from the end of 17th century. The government’s role, as an institution in society, also rose rapidly prior to the Industrial Revolution. Chart 11 plots government spending as a fraction of national income in the UK since 1200. Until around 1600, government accounted for only 1–2% of national income. In the subsequent two centuries government came of age: its share of spending rose 10 or  26  For example, Fernald and Jones (2014). 27  Hall and Jones (1999). 28  For example, Pinker (2012). 29  Pinker (2012). 30  For example, Tabellini (2010).
(A) The digitalisation of finance is prospering thanks to cutting-edge technologies (big data analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and blockchain) that beyond the promise of better consumer experiences is lowering the entry barriers to the financial sector for new players, the tech firms, and make it possible to unbundle financial services into an array of distinct core functions such as channelling payments and money, providing financing, sharing risk, and allocating capital. Balance-sheet-light payment services have so far been the main gateway to the financial sector for tech firms, but after doing so tech firms may then expand their business further along the value chain, from payment to retail and commercial banking, wealth management and insurance. Among these tech firms, the Fintechs and the Bigtechs will have a different impact on financial intermediation. Fintech startups have already been a game changer in the financial sector: they have imported from the internet industry a customer-centric culture into the financial sector and they have targeted and called into question many of the long-standing financial rents. However, Fintech start-ups do not have the capital resources to disrupt incumbent banks and their future role is likely to be shaped by two main alternatives: to be acquired by an incumbent bank or to compete on niche segments such as equity crowdfunding or market place lending. It could be different with Bigtechs. The market capitalisation of the GAFA companies Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple- is 25 times higher than that of the whole Fintech 3/9  universe.