The Growing Dependence of Britain on Trade during the Industrial Revolution

Gregory Clark, Kevin O'Rourke and Alan Taylor

No 19926, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Many previous studies of the role of trade during the British Industrial Revolution have found little or no role for trade in explaining British living standards or growth rates. We construct a three-region model of the world in which Britain trades with North America and the rest of the world, and calibrate the model to data from the 1760s and 1850s. We find that while trade had only a small impact on British welfare in the 1760s, it had a very large impact in the 1850s. This contrast is robust to a large range of parameter perturbations. Biased technological change and population growth were key in explaining Britain's growing dependence on trade during the Industrial Revolution.

JEL-codes: F11 F14 F43 N10 N70 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fdg, nep-gro, nep-his and nep-int
Note: DAE EFG ITI
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Published as Gregory Clark & Kevin Hjortshøj O'Rourke & Alan M. Taylor, 2014. "The growing dependence of Britain on trade during the Industrial Revolution," Scandinavian Economic History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(2), pages 109-136, June.

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Journal Article: The growing dependence of Britain on trade during the Industrial Revolution (2014)
Working Paper: The growing dependence of Britain on trade during the Industrial Revolution (2014)
Working Paper: The growing dependence of Britain on trade during the Industrial Revolution (2014)
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