Lecture 7: The Industrial Revolution
ECON 451
Fall 2012
Professor David Jacks
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Need to get a handle on what happened in
Britain in between 1750 and 1850.
Already know something about agricultural
productivity, share non-agricultural employment,
and urbanization rates a la Wrigley.
Also already know that we witness a break from
the Malthusian trap.
Other signs?
Introduction
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Introduction
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Introduction
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Introduction
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Old school:
1.) The IR was a true revolution.
2.) Tremendous changes in the economic,
political, and social fabric of first Britain
and then the world.
3.) All of which were generated by a wave of
Approaches to the industrial revolution
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New school:
1.) Looking at the production figures of
individual industries as before, something
definitely happened.
2.) Zooming up, cumulative effects and timing
unclear.
Approaches to the industrial revolution
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1.) How large were the “revolutionized” sectors?
Again, a tension between sector shares and
industry productivity growth on the one hand
and aggregate productivity growth on the other.
Examples of books and eyeglasses.
Questions raised by the new school
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2.) What explains the geographic pattern of the
“revolution”?
Spatial distribution of industrial activity highly
concentrated as many areas saw little change.
A British industrial revolution or a Northern
English/Scottish industrial revolution?
Questions raised by the new school
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Questions raised by the new school
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3.) If the industrial revolution was truly
revolutionary, how did so many people miss it?
Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo…
4.) Looking across Europe and across the globe,
why was England first?
Or what was special about the English
Questions raised by the new school
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5.) Finally, was the movement in population and
wages the real break from the Malthusian trap?
What if stuck with the technology of 1850?
A reintroduction of Malthusian dynamics?
Or had the IR broken the mechanisms of the
Questions raised by the new school
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Even if it de-emphasizes the “revolution” part,
the new school is still concerned with causes.
Quickly took up one of the older explanations,
namely the scientific revolution in the 17th/18th
centuries.
Basic research as well as the application of the
scientific method helped transform industry.
Science and technology as a cause
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Others have argued that the Glorious Revolution
(and thus limited government) sparked the
development of public/private capital markets.
Achieved by making the state’s commitment to
repay its debt credible and paved the way for the
Industrial Revolution.
Chief empirical evidence: decline in English
Institutions as a cause
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More recently, it has been claimed that the real
reason England experienced an industrial
revolution was “coal and colonies”.
A resolution to the Europe versus China debate?
But location of industry was endogenous in
England and an abundance of relatively
unsettled land in
Geography as a cause
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Remaining issues for the week:
1.) determining the pace of industrialization
within England: revolution or evolution?
(Crafts)
2.) determining the pattern of industrialization
across Europe: the view from trade?
(Temin)
3.) determining the nature of industrialization
across time: exogenous or endogenous?
(Crafts)
Conclusion
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