Coal and the Industrial Revolution, 1700-1869

Gregory Clark and David Jacks

No 251, Working Papers from University of California, Davis, Department of Economics

Abstract: How important was coal to the Industrial Revolution? Despite the hugegrowth of output, and the grip of coal and steam on the popular image ofthe Industrial Revolution, recent cliometric accounts have assumed coalmining mattered little to the Industrial Revolution. In contrast both E. A.Wrigley and Kenneth Pomeranz have made coal central to the story. Thispaper constructs new series on coal rents, the price of coal at pithead and atmarket, and the price of firewood, and uses them to examine this issue. Weconclude coal output expanded in the Industrial Revolution mainly as aresult of increased demand rather than technological innovations in mining.But that expansion could have occurred at any time before 1760. Furtherour coal rents series suggests that English possession of coal reserves madea negligible contribution to Industrial Revolution incomes.

Keywords: economics; revolution; coal; industrial (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N53 N73 O47 Q32 Q43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54
Date: 2006-04-09
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Journal Article: Coal and the Industrial Revolution, 1700–1869 (2007)
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