Why did the industrial revolution take place in 18th century Britain and not elsewhere in Europe or Asia? Robert Allen argues that the British industrial revolution was a successful response to the global economy of the 17th and 18th centuries.

An account of the respective market ideologies of capital and labour during the Industrial Revolution.

This volume has three main themes. First, there is the concept of the Industrial Revolution and its main characteristics, and the author defends both the term and the notions behind it against attempts to play down their significance. A particular interest is the comparison of what happened to Britain with similar processes in other European countries. The second theme is the set of problems facing the early entrepreneurs and managers. Their difficulties, as pioneers in the economic as well as the social sphere, are often underrated, and are here explored in detail. Last, there is an emphasis on the characteristic feature of industrialisation as a regional phenomenon, and on the significance of particular regions in the entire process. All three themes have called forth extended debate, in which these essays have played an important part.

The coal industry has always occupied a symbolic place in British economic and political life, inspiring debates and arousing passions throughout the last two centuries. This account of the economics of coal, first published in 1990, is unique in its comprehensive three-part approach. First, Ben Fine charts the ways in which the theoretical understanding of the British coal industry has changed over the past two centuries and discusses the arguments surrounding public ownership versus the privatization of the industry. In the second part, the book presents a critical assessment of the existing literature and challenges the well-established orthodoxies by close theoretical and empirical argument. Finally, attention is paid to the role of landed property and the processes of technical change. An interesting analysis of the complex relationship between industrial change and political economy and an important contribution to economics, this study will be of great value to students of the theory and history of industrial change and the British coal industry.

Children have worked for centuries and continue to work. The history of the economic development of Europe and North America includes numerous instances of child labor. Manufacturers in England, France, Belgium, Germany, and Prussia as well as the United States used child labor during the initial stages of industrialization. In addition, child labor prevails currently in many industries in the Third World. This book examines the explanations for child labor in an economic context. A model of the labor market for children is constructed using the new economics of the family framework to derive the supply of child labor and the traditional labor theory of marginal productivity to derive the demand for child labor. The model is placed into a historical context and is used to test the existing supply-and-demand-induced explanations for an increase in child labor during the British Industrial Revolution. Evidence on the extent of childrens employment, their specific tasks and trends in their wages from the textile industry and mining industry is used to support the argument that it was technological innovation which created a demand for child labor. Certain mechanical inventions and process innovations increased the demand for child labor in three ways: increasing number of assistants needed; increasing the substitutability between children and adults, and creating work situations that only children could fill. Specific innovations in the production of textiles and in the extraction of coal, copper and tin are highlighted to show how they favored the use of child workers over adult workers. The book concludes with a look at the current situations in developing countries where child labor is prevalent. Considerable insight is gained on the role of child labor in economic development when this historical model is applied to the contemporary situation.