The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective
Oxford University's Robert C. Allen teaches economic history and is a fellow of Nuffield College. His books include Farm to Factory: A Re-interpretation of the Soviet Industrial Revolution (2003) and Enclosure and the Yeoman: The Agricultural Development of the South Midlands, 1450-1850 (1992), both of which were awarded the Ranki Prize of the Economic History Association.
Why did the industrial revolution occur in Britain during the eighteenth century as opposed to other parts of Europe or Asia? Robert Allen makes a strong case in this compelling new narrative that the British industrial revolution was a productive response to the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century global economy in The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective, one of the best books on industrial revolution. In contrast to other countries in Europe and Asia, he demonstrates that wages were high and capital and energy were affordable in Britain. Because of this, it was especially beneficial for the British to develop and exploit the revolutionary technologies of the industrial revolution, such as the steam engine, cotton mill, and the use of coal rather than wood in the manufacturing of metals.
Pre-industrial Britain's high wage economy encouraged industrial growth since more individuals could afford education and apprenticeships. The industrial revolution wouldn't take off globally until nineteenth-century British engineers made these new technology more affordable.
Author: Robert C. Allen
Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521868270/
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