The First Industrial Revolution: Resolving the Slow Growth/Rapid Industrialization Paradox

Nicholas Crafts

Journal of the European Economic Association, 2005, vol. 3, issue 2-3, 525-534

Abstract: The paper reviews recent attempts to quantify the British industrial revolution. It concludes that the episode was one of rapid industrialization but modest growth. To a considerable extent this is explained by the early adoption of capitalist farming and the weak impact of steam on productivity growth. However, this should not detract from a marked acceleration in the rate of technological change by the second quarter of the 19th century. This may be explicable in an endogenous innovation framework in terms of a reduced cost of accessing useful knowledge. Models of long-run growth should take this enhanced technological capability seriously. (JEL:N23) Copyright (c) 2005 The European Economic Association.

Date: 2005
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