Debt into Growth: How Sovereign Debt Accelerated the First Industrial Revolution

Jaume Ventura and Hans-Joachim Voth

No 21280, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Why did the country that borrowed the most industrialize first? Earlier research has viewed the explosion of debt in 18th century Britain as either detrimental, or as neutral for economic growth. In this paper, we argue instead that Britain’s borrowing boom was beneficial. The massive issuance of liquidly traded bonds allowed the nobility to switch out of low-return investments such as agricultural improvements. This switch lowered factor demand by old sectors and increased profits in new, rising ones such as textiles and iron. Because external financing contributed little to the Industrial Revolution, this boost in profits in new industries accelerated structural change, making Britain more industrial more quickly. The absence of an effective transfer of financial resources from old to new sectors also helps to explain why the Industrial Revolution led to massive social change – because the rich nobility did not lend to or invest in the revolutionizing industries, it failed to capture the high returns to capital in these sectors, leading to relative economic decline.

JEL-codes: E22 E25 E62 H56 H60 N13 N23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-his and nep-mac
Note: EFG IFM
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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Working Paper: Debt into Growth: How Sovereign Debt Accelerated the First Industrial Revolution (2015)
Working Paper: Debt into Growth: How Sovereign Debt accelerated the First Industrial Revolution (2015)
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