The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain : Volume 1 : Industrialisation, 1700–1860

525 Pages·2004·10.572 MB·English

by  Floud, Roderick, Johnson, Paul, Floud, Roderick

TheCambridgeEconomicHistoryofModernBritain
VolumeI:Industrialisation,1700–1860
The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain provides a readable and com-
prehensive survey of the economic history of Britain since industrialisation,
based on the most up-to-date research into the subject. Roderick Floud and
PaulJohnsonhaveassembledateamoffiftyleadingscholarsfromaroundthe
world to produce a set of volumes which are both a lucid textbook for un-
dergraduateandpostgraduatestudentsandanauthoritativeguidetothesub-
ject.Thetextpaysparticularattentiontotheexplanationofquantitativeand
theory-basedenquiry,butallformsofhistoricalresearchareusedtoprovidea
comprehensive account of the development of the British economy. Volume I
coverstheperiod1700–1860whenBritainledtheworldintheprocessofindus-
trialisation.VolumeIIexaminestheperiod1860–1939whenBritisheconomic
power was at its height. The focus of volume III is 1939–2000, when Britain
adjustedtoadeclineinmanufacturing,anexpansionoftheserviceeconomy,
and a repositioning of external economic activity towards Europe. The books
provide an invaluable guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students in
history,economicsandothersocialsciences.
roderick floud is Vice-Chancellor of London Metropolitan University, a
Fellow of the British Academy, an Academician of the Social Sciences and a
Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute. His publications include
AnIntroductiontoQuantitativeMethodsforHistoriansand(withD.McCloskey)The
EconomicHistoryofBritainsince1700.
paul johnson is Professor of Economic History at the London School of
Economics and an Academician of the Social Sciences. He has authored or
edited seven books and over fifty articles and chapters on various aspects of
theeconomic,socialandlegalhistoryofmodernBritain,andontheeconomics
ofageingandpensions.PublicationsincludeSavingandSpending:TheWorking-
ClassEconomyinBritain1870–1939;AgeingandEconomicWelfare;andOldAge:From
AntiquitytoPost-Modernity.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
The Cambridge Economic
History of Modern Britain
Volume I: Industrialisation,
1700–1860
Edited by Roderick Floud
LondonMetropolitanUniversity
and Paul Johnson
LondonSchoolofEconomics
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge
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Firstpublished2004
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TheCambridgeeconomichistoryofmodernBritain/editedbyRoderickFloud
andPaulJohnson.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Contents:v.1.Industrialisation,1700--1860--v.2.Economicmaturity,1860--1939--v.3.
Structuralchangeandgrowth,1939--2000.
ISBN0521820367(v.1)--ISBN0521527368(pb.)--ISBN0521820375(v.2)--
ISBN0521527376(pb.)--ISBN0521820383(v.3)--ISBN0521527384(pb.)
1.GreatBritain--Economicconditions. 2.GreatBritain--Economic
conditions--18thcentury. 3.GreatBritain--Economicconditions–19thcentury.
4.GreatBritain--Economicconditions--20thcentury. I.Title:Economichistoryof
modernBritain. II.Floud,Roderick. III.Johnson,Paul(PaulA.)
HC253.C36 2003
330.941(cid:2)08--dc21 2003046169
ISBN0521820367
ISBN0521527368
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
To Louisa and Oriana
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
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Contents
List of figures ix
List of tables xi
List of contributors xiv
Preface xvii
Chapter 1 Accounting for the Industrial Revolution 1
joel mokyr
Chapter 2 Industrial organisation and structure 28
pat hudson
Chapter 3 British population during the ‘long’eighteenth
century, 1680–1840 57
e. a. wrigley
Chapter 4 Agriculture during the industrial revolution,
1700–1850 96
robert c. allen
Chapter 5 Industrialisation and technological change 117
kristine bruland
Chapter 6 Money, finance and capital markets 147
stephen quinn
Chapter 7 Trade: discovery, mercantilism and technology 175
c. knick harley
Chapter 8 Government and the economy, 1688–1850 204
ron harris
Chapter 9 Household economy 238
jane humphries
Chapter 10 Living standards and the urban environment 268
hans-joachim voth
Chapter 11 Transport 295
simon ville
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viii Contents
Chapter 12 Education and skill of the British labour force 332
david mitch
Chapter 13 Consumption in eighteenth- and early
nineteenth-century Britain 357
maxine berg
Chapter 14 Scotland 388
t. m. devine
Chapter 15 The extractive industries 417
roger burt
Chapter 16 The industrial revolution in global perspective 451
stanley l. engerman and
patrick k. o’brien
Bibliography 465
Index 505
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Figures
3.1 English population totals, 1681–1841 page 61
3.2 Changes in English demographic rates, 1681–1841 66
3.3 The combined effect of fertility and mortality in
determining intrinsic growth rates, 1666–1841 68
3.4 Long-term trends in birth intervals 72
3.5 Mean age at marriage: bachelor/spinster marriages 74
3.6 Marriage age combinations: bachelor/spinster marriages 75
3.7 Crude first marriage rates and real wage trends 78
3.8 Urban growth in England, France and the Netherlands 89
4.1 Output per worker in agriculture, 1300–1800 98
6.1 Sectoral shares of London stock market in 1873 149
6.2 Deposits, bills, coins and banknotes in 1873 150
6.3 Innovation of the payment system, 1688–1870 152
6.4 Supply and demand for industrial finance c. 1790 161
6.5 Price of gold in London, 1790–1830 163
7.1 British exports, 1660s, 1700s and 1770s 178
7.2 Terms of trade, 1796–1913 194
7.3 Exports as proportion of national income,
1700–1913 199
7.4 Tariff revenues as percentage of value of retained imports 201
8.1 Total tax revenue, 1665–1805 215
8.2 Employees in fiscal bureaucracy, 1690–1782/3 216
8.3 Growth of national debt, 1690–1780s 217
8.4 Allocation of government expenditure, 1665–1805 218
9.1 Contributions to household income 259
10.1 Real earnings in Great Britain, 1781–1855 272
10.2 Working hours in Britain in the long run 278
10.3 Composition of working-class expenditures, 1788/92 282
10.4 Life expectancy at birth (in years) in selected cities and
areas, 1841 285
10.5 Pseudo-HDI for Britain, the USA, Sweden and Germany 290
11.1 Transport’s share of gross domestic fixed capital formation
in Great Britain, 1761–1860 321
12.1 Estimated illiteracy of men and women in England,
1500–1900 344
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x Listoffigures
12.2 Estimated annual percentage of males and females unable
to sign at marriage, 1754–1840 345
14.1 Scotland 390
14.2 The Central Lowlands of Scotland 405
15.1 Volume and value of mine output, 1720s and 1857 421
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008