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Industrial Revolution and British Exceptionalism

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Economic History ((PEHS))

Abstract

The British Industrial Revolution is probably the most important event of the last 10,000 years. This chapter reviews some of the more recent literature on this topic. The focus is primarily on the timing and location of the Industrial Revolution. Contributing factors discussed include institutions, culture and human capital, factor prices, consumer goods and household work, female agency, finance, trade and geography.

We thank Matthias Blum and Jan Luiten van Zanden for commenting on an earlier version of this chapter.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Often, these new things turn out to be quite old things, addressed in the literature many times before!

  2. 2.

    More specifically, according to Allen, Industrial Enlightenment would have caused a single increase in productivity and not sustained growth in productivity levels of workers.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

    Christopher L. Colvin

  2. University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Alexandra M. de Pleijt

Authors
  1. Christopher L. Colvin
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  2. Alexandra M. de Pleijt
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

    Matthias Blum

  2. Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

    Christopher L. Colvin

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Colvin, C.L., de Pleijt, A.M. (2018). Industrial Revolution and British Exceptionalism. In: Blum, M., Colvin, C. (eds) An Economist’s Guide to Economic History. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96568-0_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96568-0_24

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96567-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96568-0

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