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2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

24. Industrial Revolution and British Exceptionalism

Authors : Christopher L. Colvin, Alexandra M. de Pleijt

Published in: An Economist’s Guide to Economic History

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

The British Industrial Revolution is probably the most important event of the last 10,000 years. This chapter reviews some of the more recent literature on this topic. The focus is primarily on the timing and location of the Industrial Revolution. Contributing factors discussed include institutions, culture and human capital, factor prices, consumer goods and household work, female agency, finance, trade and geography.

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Footnotes
1
Often, these new things turn out to be quite old things, addressed in the literature many times before!
 
2
More specifically, according to Allen, Industrial Enlightenment would have caused a single increase in productivity and not sustained growth in productivity levels of workers.
 
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Metadata
Title
Industrial Revolution and British Exceptionalism
Authors
Christopher L. Colvin
Alexandra M. de Pleijt
Copyright Year
2018
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96568-0_24