Explaining The British Industrial Revolution From the Perspective of Global Wage and Price History

1There has been a debate about the breadth of technological progress during the industrial revolution with Crafts (1985), Harley (1999), Crafts and Harley (1992, 2000) arguing that productivity growth was confined to the famous, revolutionized industries in the period 1801-31, while Temin (1997) has argued that many more industries experienced productivity growth. Whatever one believes about 1801-31, it is clear that many non-revolutionized industries experienced productivity growth between 1500 and 1850. The incentives to invent discussed in this paper applied to all industries, not just the famous ones I discuss here. The Industrial Revolution is one of the most celebrated watersheds in human history. It is no longer regarded as the abrupt discontinuity that its name suggests, for it was the result of an economic expansion that started in the sixteenth century. Nevertheless, the eighteenth century does represent a decisive break in the history of technology and the economy. The famous inventions–the spinning jenny, the steam engine, coke smelting, and so forth–deserve their renown1, for they mark the start of a process that has carried the West, at least, to the mass prosperity of the twenty-first century. The purpose of this essay is to explain why the