Jan De Vries
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263471
- eISBN:
- 9780191734786
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263471.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
This chapter examines the scope and intensity of productive labour and its relationship to consumer aspirations. It demonstrates that changes in consumption demands play a role in the process of ...
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This chapter examines the scope and intensity of productive labour and its relationship to consumer aspirations. It demonstrates that changes in consumption demands play a role in the process of industrialization. The first ‘industrious revolution’ within the household sector reinforced significant changes in business organization, affecting both the international wholesale trade and the retail provision of goods. This phenomenon paved the way for the Industrial Revolution, which was advanced by new technologies and changes in organization.Less
This chapter examines the scope and intensity of productive labour and its relationship to consumer aspirations. It demonstrates that changes in consumption demands play a role in the process of industrialization. The first ‘industrious revolution’ within the household sector reinforced significant changes in business organization, affecting both the international wholesale trade and the retail provision of goods. This phenomenon paved the way for the Industrial Revolution, which was advanced by new technologies and changes in organization.
Peter Temin and Hans-Joachim Voth
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199944279
- eISBN:
- 9780199980789
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199944279.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
The book asks when financial development is good for growth. It turns to industrializing England for an answer, using London goldsmith bankers as a case study. The book traces the early history of ...
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The book asks when financial development is good for growth. It turns to industrializing England for an answer, using London goldsmith bankers as a case study. The book traces the early history of domestic banking in eighteenth-century London. It reveals how goldsmiths learned to be bankers in the tumultuous early years of the century, how a few of them prospered in the South Sea Bubble, and how the banks operated after mid-century. Financial repression by the government—a response to the pressing need to finance ever longer and more expensive wars—was a key constraint for private financial development. The usury laws restricted the ability to lend; war-time borrowing shocks crowded out private loans. Based on new evidence from historical bank archives, especially those of Hoare's Bank, the authors compile a rich new dataset with micro-level information on lending decisions, cash ratios, and profitability. Their conclusions shed light on one of the great unsolved puzzles of the Industrial Revolution—if technological change was fast, why was growth itself slow? Their answer emphasizes the important difficulties thrown up the institutional context in Hanoverian England—a “warfare state” bent on repressing financial development to facilitate its access to private savings.Less
The book asks when financial development is good for growth. It turns to industrializing England for an answer, using London goldsmith bankers as a case study. The book traces the early history of domestic banking in eighteenth-century London. It reveals how goldsmiths learned to be bankers in the tumultuous early years of the century, how a few of them prospered in the South Sea Bubble, and how the banks operated after mid-century. Financial repression by the government—a response to the pressing need to finance ever longer and more expensive wars—was a key constraint for private financial development. The usury laws restricted the ability to lend; war-time borrowing shocks crowded out private loans. Based on new evidence from historical bank archives, especially those of Hoare's Bank, the authors compile a rich new dataset with micro-level information on lending decisions, cash ratios, and profitability. Their conclusions shed light on one of the great unsolved puzzles of the Industrial Revolution—if technological change was fast, why was growth itself slow? Their answer emphasizes the important difficulties thrown up the institutional context in Hanoverian England—a “warfare state” bent on repressing financial development to facilitate its access to private savings.
Chris Freeman and Francisco Louçã
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199251056
- eISBN:
- 9780191596278
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199251053.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
The available statistics show that there was a sharp acceleration of the growth of British industrial output, investment, and trade in the last few decades of the eighteenth century, justifying the ...
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The available statistics show that there was a sharp acceleration of the growth of British industrial output, investment, and trade in the last few decades of the eighteenth century, justifying the general use of the expression ‘Industrial Revolution’ and refuting the efforts of a few historians to deny its very occurrence.In particular, the extraordinarily rapid growth of output and exports of the cotton industry was widely remarked upon both at the time and ever since, and was generally and plausibly attributed to a series of inventions and innovations, which increased productivity per hour of work by more than an order of magnitude and made possible rapidly descending costs and prices.Only a little less rapid was the growth of the British iron industry, its rate of technical change, and its widening range of applications throughout the economy.These exceptionally dynamic industries made an outstanding contribution to the growth of the economy as a whole based on water‐powered mechanization and a new transport infrastructure of canals, rivers, and roads.Finally, British leadership in the Industrial Revolution must be attributed not only to these changes in technology and in the economy but also to the confluence and congruence of these changes with developments in the political and cultural subsystems particularly favourable to science, technology, and entrepreneurship.Less
The available statistics show that there was a sharp acceleration of the growth of British industrial output, investment, and trade in the last few decades of the eighteenth century, justifying the general use of the expression ‘Industrial Revolution’ and refuting the efforts of a few historians to deny its very occurrence.
In particular, the extraordinarily rapid growth of output and exports of the cotton industry was widely remarked upon both at the time and ever since, and was generally and plausibly attributed to a series of inventions and innovations, which increased productivity per hour of work by more than an order of magnitude and made possible rapidly descending costs and prices.
Only a little less rapid was the growth of the British iron industry, its rate of technical change, and its widening range of applications throughout the economy.
These exceptionally dynamic industries made an outstanding contribution to the growth of the economy as a whole based on water‐powered mechanization and a new transport infrastructure of canals, rivers, and roads.
Finally, British leadership in the Industrial Revolution must be attributed not only to these changes in technology and in the economy but also to the confluence and congruence of these changes with developments in the political and cultural subsystems particularly favourable to science, technology, and entrepreneurship.
Jane Humphries
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263471
- eISBN:
- 9780191734786
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263471.003.0003
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
This chapter examines the role of apprenticeship in the British Industrial Revolution. The apprenticeship system contributed in four ways. First, it provided training of necessary skills in the ...
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This chapter examines the role of apprenticeship in the British Industrial Revolution. The apprenticeship system contributed in four ways. First, it provided training of necessary skills in the expanding area of employment and newer sectors. Second, it promoted efficient training among masters and men. Third, it reduced the transaction costs involved in transferring resources from agriculture to non-agriculture and facilitated the expansion of sectors which promoted trade and commerce. Finally, apprenticeship saved poor children from social exclusion and enabled them to become more productive adults. The chapter also suggests that the apprenticeship system also created a structure of contract enforcement which ensured that both masters and trainees would derive the benefits from human capital accumulation.Less
This chapter examines the role of apprenticeship in the British Industrial Revolution. The apprenticeship system contributed in four ways. First, it provided training of necessary skills in the expanding area of employment and newer sectors. Second, it promoted efficient training among masters and men. Third, it reduced the transaction costs involved in transferring resources from agriculture to non-agriculture and facilitated the expansion of sectors which promoted trade and commerce. Finally, apprenticeship saved poor children from social exclusion and enabled them to become more productive adults. The chapter also suggests that the apprenticeship system also created a structure of contract enforcement which ensured that both masters and trainees would derive the benefits from human capital accumulation.
Michael Veseth
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195064209
- eISBN:
- 9780199854998
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195064209.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
This chapter examines the British experience with structural change and fiscal crisis, before dealing with the postwar United States. The rise and decline of Victorian Britain is a variation on the ...
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This chapter examines the British experience with structural change and fiscal crisis, before dealing with the postwar United States. The rise and decline of Victorian Britain is a variation on the theme of structural change and fiscal crisis played out in the case of Renaissance Florence. History did not repeat itself in Victorian Britain, but certain underlying themes of human nature can be found in these two important periods. Britain adapted extremely well to one set of very large structural changes, the ones that created the Industrial Revolution. However, the patterns that led to that success became rigid and prevented Britain from responding to a second set of structural changes late in the nineteenth century. The result was that Britain, like Florence, was overtaken by other nations and slipped from the top rank.Less
This chapter examines the British experience with structural change and fiscal crisis, before dealing with the postwar United States. The rise and decline of Victorian Britain is a variation on the theme of structural change and fiscal crisis played out in the case of Renaissance Florence. History did not repeat itself in Victorian Britain, but certain underlying themes of human nature can be found in these two important periods. Britain adapted extremely well to one set of very large structural changes, the ones that created the Industrial Revolution. However, the patterns that led to that success became rigid and prevented Britain from responding to a second set of structural changes late in the nineteenth century. The result was that Britain, like Florence, was overtaken by other nations and slipped from the top rank.
Emily Erikson
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691159065
- eISBN:
- 9781400850334
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691159065.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This chapter sets out the stakes of the book's argument, situating the English East India Company with respect to some of the larger processes of transition and change in the early modern period and ...
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This chapter sets out the stakes of the book's argument, situating the English East India Company with respect to some of the larger processes of transition and change in the early modern period and the dawn of modernity in the nineteenth century. The issues addressed are large-scale macro-historical outcomes, such as economic development in the West, underdevelopment in Asia, growth in state capacity, the development of economic theory, and the emergence of new organizational forms. All are linked to and intertwine with the story of the English East India Company. In addition, these developments have at times been indirectly linked to the Industrial Revolution, which the chapter also briefly touches upon.Less
This chapter sets out the stakes of the book's argument, situating the English East India Company with respect to some of the larger processes of transition and change in the early modern period and the dawn of modernity in the nineteenth century. The issues addressed are large-scale macro-historical outcomes, such as economic development in the West, underdevelopment in Asia, growth in state capacity, the development of economic theory, and the emergence of new organizational forms. All are linked to and intertwine with the story of the English East India Company. In addition, these developments have at times been indirectly linked to the Industrial Revolution, which the chapter also briefly touches upon.
Joel Mokyr
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195074772
- eISBN:
- 9780199854981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195074772.003.0010
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter examines why Britain managed, for about a century, to generate and diffuse superior production techniques at a faster rate than the Continent, and to serve as a model that all European ...
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This chapter examines why Britain managed, for about a century, to generate and diffuse superior production techniques at a faster rate than the Continent, and to serve as a model that all European nations wished to emulate; and how and why it eventually lost its leadership and technology. It observes that technological success depended on both the presence of positive elements and on the absence of negative ones. The chapter notes that the generation of technological ideas and the ability to implement them are among the positive factors that provide technological successes. It further observes that one crucial difference between Britain and the Continent that helped Britain to establish its head start was its endowment of skilled labor at the onset of the Industrial Revolution.Less
This chapter examines why Britain managed, for about a century, to generate and diffuse superior production techniques at a faster rate than the Continent, and to serve as a model that all European nations wished to emulate; and how and why it eventually lost its leadership and technology. It observes that technological success depended on both the presence of positive elements and on the absence of negative ones. The chapter notes that the generation of technological ideas and the ability to implement them are among the positive factors that provide technological successes. It further observes that one crucial difference between Britain and the Continent that helped Britain to establish its head start was its endowment of skilled labor at the onset of the Industrial Revolution.
Chris Freeman and Francisco Louçã
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199251056
- eISBN:
- 9780191596278
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199251053.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
Economic history has always been quite a peculiar department both in the domain of history and that of economics; dealing with change, institutions, collective rationality, and conflicting strategies ...
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Economic history has always been quite a peculiar department both in the domain of history and that of economics; dealing with change, institutions, collective rationality, and conflicting strategies of economic agents, privileging descriptive and non‐formal analytical tools, economic history remained for long outside the scope of formal neoclassical economics.This chapter describes and discusses the story of the incorporation of economic history into the mainstream of economic theory through the cliometric revolution, a powerful intellectual movement emerging by the late fifties, which encapsulated this reconstruction of economic history from the point of view of marginalist price theory and the postulates of individual rationality; Meyer and Conrad were the major drivers of this radical vision, and challenged the ‘old historians’ school’, today best represented by the response of David Landes.Yet the coherence of the cliometric movement was soon jeopardized by internal contradictions: Paul David issued the most powerful challenge to the seminal building block of the new approach, Fogel's ‘Time on the Cross’, a revision of the traditional approach to the economics of slavery in the pre‐Civil War USA.Douglass North is another example of a dissident from cliometrics, and Alfred Chandler provided alternative arguments for a reasoned history approach to societal change.The cliometric analysis of the British Industrial Revolution, using counterfactuals, namely by Crafts and Hawke, is discussed and contradicted in the chapter.Less
Economic history has always been quite a peculiar department both in the domain of history and that of economics; dealing with change, institutions, collective rationality, and conflicting strategies of economic agents, privileging descriptive and non‐formal analytical tools, economic history remained for long outside the scope of formal neoclassical economics.
This chapter describes and discusses the story of the incorporation of economic history into the mainstream of economic theory through the cliometric revolution, a powerful intellectual movement emerging by the late fifties, which encapsulated this reconstruction of economic history from the point of view of marginalist price theory and the postulates of individual rationality; Meyer and Conrad were the major drivers of this radical vision, and challenged the ‘old historians’ school’, today best represented by the response of David Landes.
Yet the coherence of the cliometric movement was soon jeopardized by internal contradictions: Paul David issued the most powerful challenge to the seminal building block of the new approach, Fogel's ‘Time on the Cross’, a revision of the traditional approach to the economics of slavery in the pre‐Civil War USA.
Douglass North is another example of a dissident from cliometrics, and Alfred Chandler provided alternative arguments for a reasoned history approach to societal change.
The cliometric analysis of the British Industrial Revolution, using counterfactuals, namely by Crafts and Hawke, is discussed and contradicted in the chapter.
Joel Mokyr
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195074772
- eISBN:
- 9780199854981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195074772.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter discusses the technological progress in the Industrial Revolution, usually dated between about 1750 and 1830. It notes that although Britain is frequently thought of as its locus, a ...
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This chapter discusses the technological progress in the Industrial Revolution, usually dated between about 1750 and 1830. It notes that although Britain is frequently thought of as its locus, a large part of the new technology was the result of work done in other European countries and, later, in the United States. The chapter observes that the fruits of the Industrial Revolution were slow in coming, and that although per capita consumption and living standards increased little initially, production technologies changed dramatically in many industries and sectors, which prepared the way for sustained Schumpeterian growth in the second half of the nineteenth century, when technological progress spread to previously unaffected industries. It examines the technological changes during this period occurring in four main groups, namely: power technology, metallurgy, textiles, and a miscellaneous category of other industries and services.Less
This chapter discusses the technological progress in the Industrial Revolution, usually dated between about 1750 and 1830. It notes that although Britain is frequently thought of as its locus, a large part of the new technology was the result of work done in other European countries and, later, in the United States. The chapter observes that the fruits of the Industrial Revolution were slow in coming, and that although per capita consumption and living standards increased little initially, production technologies changed dramatically in many industries and sectors, which prepared the way for sustained Schumpeterian growth in the second half of the nineteenth century, when technological progress spread to previously unaffected industries. It examines the technological changes during this period occurring in four main groups, namely: power technology, metallurgy, textiles, and a miscellaneous category of other industries and services.
Robert C. Allen
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264775
- eISBN:
- 9780191734984
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264775.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain given at the British Academy's 2009 Keynes Lecture in Economics. This text suggests that the Industrial ...
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This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain given at the British Academy's 2009 Keynes Lecture in Economics. This text suggests that the Industrial Revolution was Britain's response to the global economy that emerged after 1500 and that Britain's success in world trade resulted in one of the most urbanised economies in Europe with unusually high wages and cheap energy prices. The text here also highlights the contribution of Britain in the invention of the steam engine and the cotton spinning machines and in scientific discoveries relating to atmospheric pressure.Less
This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain given at the British Academy's 2009 Keynes Lecture in Economics. This text suggests that the Industrial Revolution was Britain's response to the global economy that emerged after 1500 and that Britain's success in world trade resulted in one of the most urbanised economies in Europe with unusually high wages and cheap energy prices. The text here also highlights the contribution of Britain in the invention of the steam engine and the cotton spinning machines and in scientific discoveries relating to atmospheric pressure.
Peter Temin and Hans-Joachim Voth
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199944279
- eISBN:
- 9780199980789
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199944279.003.0008
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
This chapter reviews recent research on Britain's Industrial revolution, showing that the presumed rate of economic growth during this economic watershed has been reduced progressively by several ...
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This chapter reviews recent research on Britain's Industrial revolution, showing that the presumed rate of economic growth during this economic watershed has been reduced progressively by several authors working with different methods. How can the evidence of widespread technological progress around the start of the nineteenth century be reconciled with the slow rate of national growth? Data from several goldsmith banks let us examine one hypothesis: that the British government's demand for resources to fight Napoleon crowded out demand from the private economy for investment. Previous historians have proposed crowding out but have had trouble identifying its effects. The usury rate meant that scarcity of bank loans showed up in credit rationing rather than higher interest rates. We show that loans from Hoare's Bank and other lenders decreased when the British government borrowed, and the rate of growth of the economy slowed at these times.Less
This chapter reviews recent research on Britain's Industrial revolution, showing that the presumed rate of economic growth during this economic watershed has been reduced progressively by several authors working with different methods. How can the evidence of widespread technological progress around the start of the nineteenth century be reconciled with the slow rate of national growth? Data from several goldsmith banks let us examine one hypothesis: that the British government's demand for resources to fight Napoleon crowded out demand from the private economy for investment. Previous historians have proposed crowding out but have had trouble identifying its effects. The usury rate meant that scarcity of bank loans showed up in credit rationing rather than higher interest rates. We show that loans from Hoare's Bank and other lenders decreased when the British government borrowed, and the rate of growth of the economy slowed at these times.
E. A. Wrigley
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263037
- eISBN:
- 9780191734007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263037.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This lecture discusses a quest for the Industrial Revolution. It determines that the key feature of this revolution consisted less in an acceleration in growth than in the absence of any ...
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This lecture discusses a quest for the Industrial Revolution. It determines that the key feature of this revolution consisted less in an acceleration in growth than in the absence of any deceleration. The lecture further considers certain implications that may be termed the crafts revision and the prominence of agriculture.Less
This lecture discusses a quest for the Industrial Revolution. It determines that the key feature of this revolution consisted less in an acceleration in growth than in the absence of any deceleration. The lecture further considers certain implications that may be termed the crafts revision and the prominence of agriculture.
Roman Szporluk
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195051032
- eISBN:
- 9780199854417
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195051032.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The “List Critique” is the most explicit work Karl Marx wrote on nationalism. This work actually remained unknown until it appeared in a Soviet historical journal in 1971, long after he died. ...
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The “List Critique” is the most explicit work Karl Marx wrote on nationalism. This work actually remained unknown until it appeared in a Soviet historical journal in 1971, long after he died. Conventional Marxian scholarship has tackled Marx's stand on nation and nationalism, however problems still remain despite its wide acceptance. In Marx's view, modern society consisted of two classes: the capitalists and the industrial workers. The theories and practices plus the Industrial Revolution all added to one process and that was the rise of capitalism. Meanwhile, the doctrine of the list was a contrast to everything that was taking place in society. The list called for the unification of all classes of a nation against other nations. Friedrich Meinecke pointed out the wave of nationalism while Marxism postulated the formation of the proletariat as a force that transcended national identities. Thus, Marxism viewed nationalism as the enemy.Less
The “List Critique” is the most explicit work Karl Marx wrote on nationalism. This work actually remained unknown until it appeared in a Soviet historical journal in 1971, long after he died. Conventional Marxian scholarship has tackled Marx's stand on nation and nationalism, however problems still remain despite its wide acceptance. In Marx's view, modern society consisted of two classes: the capitalists and the industrial workers. The theories and practices plus the Industrial Revolution all added to one process and that was the rise of capitalism. Meanwhile, the doctrine of the list was a contrast to everything that was taking place in society. The list called for the unification of all classes of a nation against other nations. Friedrich Meinecke pointed out the wave of nationalism while Marxism postulated the formation of the proletariat as a force that transcended national identities. Thus, Marxism viewed nationalism as the enemy.
SIDNEY POLLARD
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206385
- eISBN:
- 9780191677106
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206385.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, Economic History
The well-known term, the Industrial Revolution, is traditionally applied to the transformation of the British economy between 1760 and 1850. This chapter returns to the British Industrial Revolution ...
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The well-known term, the Industrial Revolution, is traditionally applied to the transformation of the British economy between 1760 and 1850. This chapter returns to the British Industrial Revolution and the contribution made to it by some of the ‘marginal’ areas of England, Scotland, and Wales, against a setting of other European ‘proto-industrial’ regions and their experience. Despite some conspicuous exceptions, the major share of the more advanced type of industrial and commercial activity of the eighteenth century described as ‘proto-industry’ was concentrated in the marginal areas of Europe. The argument of the whole of the study may be summarized by saying that, having been placed in that position, the marginal regions were exceptionally well equipped to push it forward vigorously, to lead the rest of Europe to a significant extent and for a considerable period of time.Less
The well-known term, the Industrial Revolution, is traditionally applied to the transformation of the British economy between 1760 and 1850. This chapter returns to the British Industrial Revolution and the contribution made to it by some of the ‘marginal’ areas of England, Scotland, and Wales, against a setting of other European ‘proto-industrial’ regions and their experience. Despite some conspicuous exceptions, the major share of the more advanced type of industrial and commercial activity of the eighteenth century described as ‘proto-industry’ was concentrated in the marginal areas of Europe. The argument of the whole of the study may be summarized by saying that, having been placed in that position, the marginal regions were exceptionally well equipped to push it forward vigorously, to lead the rest of Europe to a significant extent and for a considerable period of time.
Peter Temin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691147680
- eISBN:
- 9781400845422
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691147680.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
The quality of life for ordinary Roman citizens at the height of the Roman Empire probably was better than that of any other large group of people living before the Industrial Revolution. This book ...
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The quality of life for ordinary Roman citizens at the height of the Roman Empire probably was better than that of any other large group of people living before the Industrial Revolution. This book uses the tools of modern economics to show how trade, markets, and the Pax Romana were critical to ancient Rome's prosperity. The book argues that markets dominated the Roman economy. It traces how the Pax Romana encouraged trade around the Mediterranean, and how Roman law promoted commerce and banking. It further shows that a reasonably vibrant market for wheat extended throughout the empire, and suggests that the Antonine Plague may have been responsible for turning the stable prices of the early empire into the persistent inflation of the late. The book vividly describes how various markets operated in Roman times, from commodities and slaves to the buying and selling of land. Applying modern methods for evaluating economic growth to data culled from historical sources, the book argues that Roman Italy in the second century was as prosperous as the Dutch Republic in its golden age of the seventeenth century. The book reveals how economics can help us understand how the Roman Empire could have ruled seventy million people and endured for centuries.Less
The quality of life for ordinary Roman citizens at the height of the Roman Empire probably was better than that of any other large group of people living before the Industrial Revolution. This book uses the tools of modern economics to show how trade, markets, and the Pax Romana were critical to ancient Rome's prosperity. The book argues that markets dominated the Roman economy. It traces how the Pax Romana encouraged trade around the Mediterranean, and how Roman law promoted commerce and banking. It further shows that a reasonably vibrant market for wheat extended throughout the empire, and suggests that the Antonine Plague may have been responsible for turning the stable prices of the early empire into the persistent inflation of the late. The book vividly describes how various markets operated in Roman times, from commodities and slaves to the buying and selling of land. Applying modern methods for evaluating economic growth to data culled from historical sources, the book argues that Roman Italy in the second century was as prosperous as the Dutch Republic in its golden age of the seventeenth century. The book reveals how economics can help us understand how the Roman Empire could have ruled seventy million people and endured for centuries.
Deirdre McCloskey
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199769063
- eISBN:
- 9780199896851
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199769063.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
An understanding of thrift in the United States requires a look back at developments in England and, before that, in Holland. With the relative leveling of society in the wake of the Renaissance, and ...
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An understanding of thrift in the United States requires a look back at developments in England and, before that, in Holland. With the relative leveling of society in the wake of the Renaissance, and especially the Reformation, aristocratic virtues gradually lost their long-held social dominance. In their place arose new commercial and civic virtues that legitimated the rising capitalist order. This chapter shows that the lesson of this early history is not what many have assumed. It questions the oft-repeated assumption that it was an increase in savings due to thrift that drove the rise of capitalism as the dominant economic order in the Anglo-American world. The chapter demonstrates that all of the historical evidence points instead to a combination of relative political freedom and technological innovation that led to the most dramatic economic growth—by a factor of eighteen—in world history. However, it concedes that thrift's social status did change in the period leading up to the Industrial Revolution from an utterly unremarkable feature of human existence to a marker of middle-class respectability and comportment. Along with all the economic virtues, thrift became an important regulating ideal.Less
An understanding of thrift in the United States requires a look back at developments in England and, before that, in Holland. With the relative leveling of society in the wake of the Renaissance, and especially the Reformation, aristocratic virtues gradually lost their long-held social dominance. In their place arose new commercial and civic virtues that legitimated the rising capitalist order. This chapter shows that the lesson of this early history is not what many have assumed. It questions the oft-repeated assumption that it was an increase in savings due to thrift that drove the rise of capitalism as the dominant economic order in the Anglo-American world. The chapter demonstrates that all of the historical evidence points instead to a combination of relative political freedom and technological innovation that led to the most dramatic economic growth—by a factor of eighteen—in world history. However, it concedes that thrift's social status did change in the period leading up to the Industrial Revolution from an utterly unremarkable feature of human existence to a marker of middle-class respectability and comportment. Along with all the economic virtues, thrift became an important regulating ideal.
J. Bradford De Long
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294900
- eISBN:
- 9780191596728
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294905.003.0006
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic Systems
A historical analysis of early modern Western Europe demonstrates that it was the interests of princes and kings, and the forms of government, that mainly determined whether there was economic growth ...
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A historical analysis of early modern Western Europe demonstrates that it was the interests of princes and kings, and the forms of government, that mainly determined whether there was economic growth or stagnation—and that these even partly explain the Industrial Revolution. The different parts of the chapter discuss prince‐ and merchant‐dominated city states in pre‐industrial Europe, the military revolution (with sections on the decline of Spain, and the stagnation of the Dutch Republic), and the anomaly of Britain as the only nation state that continued to grow its economy under the burden of maintaining the military effort required of an early modern European great power.Less
A historical analysis of early modern Western Europe demonstrates that it was the interests of princes and kings, and the forms of government, that mainly determined whether there was economic growth or stagnation—and that these even partly explain the Industrial Revolution. The different parts of the chapter discuss prince‐ and merchant‐dominated city states in pre‐industrial Europe, the military revolution (with sections on the decline of Spain, and the stagnation of the Dutch Republic), and the anomaly of Britain as the only nation state that continued to grow its economy under the burden of maintaining the military effort required of an early modern European great power.
Robert C. Allen
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198282969
- eISBN:
- 9780191684425
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198282969.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This book traces the shift from medieval to modern institutions in English agriculture. It explores their importance for productivity growth, income distribution, and the contribution of agriculture ...
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This book traces the shift from medieval to modern institutions in English agriculture. It explores their importance for productivity growth, income distribution, and the contribution of agriculture to British economic development. The author study shows that, contrary to the assumption of many historians, small-scale farmers in the open-field system were responsible for a considerable proportion of the productivity growth achieved between the middle ages and the nineteenth century. The process of enclosure and the replacement of these yeomen by large-scale tenant farming relying on wage labour had relatively little impact on the agricultural contribution to economic development during the Industrial Revolution. Enclosures and large farms enriched landowners without benefiting consumers, workers, or farmers.Less
This book traces the shift from medieval to modern institutions in English agriculture. It explores their importance for productivity growth, income distribution, and the contribution of agriculture to British economic development. The author study shows that, contrary to the assumption of many historians, small-scale farmers in the open-field system were responsible for a considerable proportion of the productivity growth achieved between the middle ages and the nineteenth century. The process of enclosure and the replacement of these yeomen by large-scale tenant farming relying on wage labour had relatively little impact on the agricultural contribution to economic development during the Industrial Revolution. Enclosures and large farms enriched landowners without benefiting consumers, workers, or farmers.
Peter Temin and Hans-Joachim Voth
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199944279
- eISBN:
- 9780199980789
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199944279.003.0009
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
This chapter summarizes the book by making two points. Surveying the literature on growth, it shows that aggregate data do not always capture the quality of financial development, contrasting America ...
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This chapter summarizes the book by making two points. Surveying the literature on growth, it shows that aggregate data do not always capture the quality of financial development, contrasting America and England. Despite North and Weingast 1989) claims that the Glorious Revolution improved English institutions by leaps and bounds, banking was hamstrung by a variety of regulations, including the usury laws. Because of these regulations, English wartime borrowing hit investment in the Industrial Revolution particularly hard, by making impossible for the private sector to compete for funds. The combination of massive borrowing and financial repression in the form of highly restrictive regulation is responsible for the seeming paradox of slow economic growth at a time of rapid technological change..Less
This chapter summarizes the book by making two points. Surveying the literature on growth, it shows that aggregate data do not always capture the quality of financial development, contrasting America and England. Despite North and Weingast 1989) claims that the Glorious Revolution improved English institutions by leaps and bounds, banking was hamstrung by a variety of regulations, including the usury laws. Because of these regulations, English wartime borrowing hit investment in the Industrial Revolution particularly hard, by making impossible for the private sector to compete for funds. The combination of massive borrowing and financial repression in the form of highly restrictive regulation is responsible for the seeming paradox of slow economic growth at a time of rapid technological change..
Peter Temin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691147680
- eISBN:
- 9781400845422
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691147680.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter reviews the theory of economic growth and the problems of measuring it. It reveals that scholars trying to understand Roman macroeconomics are in far worse shape than economists dealing ...
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This chapter reviews the theory of economic growth and the problems of measuring it. It reveals that scholars trying to understand Roman macroeconomics are in far worse shape than economists dealing with more recent economies. A brief survey of some existing research on the level of Roman and Greek income shows that there is a variety of data that could be used to estimate Roman economic growth. An index of human welfare might seem appropriate to indicate the existence and extent of economic growth, but it could be too broad. Another possible measure of economic growth is an index of structural change. The idea of an Industrial Revolution and the place of industry in the economy today suggest that industrialization can be used as a measure of economic growth.Less
This chapter reviews the theory of economic growth and the problems of measuring it. It reveals that scholars trying to understand Roman macroeconomics are in far worse shape than economists dealing with more recent economies. A brief survey of some existing research on the level of Roman and Greek income shows that there is a variety of data that could be used to estimate Roman economic growth. An index of human welfare might seem appropriate to indicate the existence and extent of economic growth, but it could be too broad. Another possible measure of economic growth is an index of structural change. The idea of an Industrial Revolution and the place of industry in the economy today suggest that industrialization can be used as a measure of economic growth.
