What role did the enlightenment play in the development of new economic theories during the industrial revolution? a. enlightenment ideas led to the development of capitalism, but socialist ideas were unrelated to any enlightenment reasoning. b. economists believed that new theories had to be based upon enlightenment ideas, but most rejected the idea of unregulated exchange. c. as economists tried to understand the changes caused by the industrial revolution, they rejected outdated enlightenment ideas such as natural laws. d. in an attempt to better understand the changes caused by the industrial revolution, economists applied reason and the scientific method to develop new theories.