> Population isn't enough, and can be a curse. Europe saw
  > a tremendous economic boom following the Black Death,
  > largely because financial and real capital was concentrated
  > in fewer hands, and populations were reduced below
  > carrying capacity.

I won't dispute that there was both a population decline and an economic boom following the Black Death, but do you have anything to back up the assertion of causality? Could the boom not be more parsimoniously explained by the inflow of wealth from the New World? Indeed, perhaps the Black Death dampened this boom and ultimately delayed the industrial revolution.