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The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective (New Approaches to Economic and Social History) 1st Edition

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Robert C. Allen (Author)
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Robert C. Allen (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars 16 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0521687850
ISBN-10: 0521687853
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Product Details

  • Series: New Approaches to Economic and Social History
  • Paperback: 342 pages
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (April 27, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0521687853
  • ISBN-13: 978-0521687850
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,887 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 starsThoughtful; 4.5 Stars
By R. Albin TOP 1000 REVIEWER on August 1, 2009
Format: Paperback
This well written and well argued book is an analysis of why the Industrial Revolution began in Britain. Allen isolates 2 key factors; high labor costs and low energy costs. Compared to most other European countries, Holland excepted, and the rest of the world, Britain had relatively high wages. This provided a considerable incentive for investment in labor saving technologies. Britain was simultaneously well endowed with accessible coal and had developed a strong coal mining sector prior to the onset of the industrial revolution. Cheap energy allowed innovation in labor saving technologies that were crucial to the Industrial Revolution in steam power and iron production. In parallel and interacting was technological innovation in the first truly global industry - cotton textiles. These developments spurred the self-sustaining process of technological improvement and expansion that led to world-wide industrialization. This is essentially a theory of why Britain, among European countries, generated industrialization. Holland was another high wage economy but lacked coal deposits. Essentially all other European nations had lower wage regimes and relatively high energy costs. Allen argues that industrial innovation was seen in France but not in the key industries-technologies that led to the Industrial Revolution. Allen's arguments, buttressed by quite a bit of analysis of economic data, and even some modeling, are convincing.

Allen describes other features that were needed for industrialization. These include relatively high rates of literacy and numeracy, a scientific world view, significant agricultural innovation, and favorable political institutions.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsA good book, maybe not for a first read on the subject
By Matthew C. Roberts on December 27, 2010
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Finally finished `The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective' after what seems to be years of slogging thru it. Reading Amazon reviews it is funny, those who read the book are split on it, not in it's merits but in what and how it is covered. The economists are ok with all of the dry (to me) modeling and formulae that Robert Allen utilizes to bolster his arguments but who are lost with the more historical narrative and technological aspects of the book. I fall under the opposite group. Probably with all of my readings over the last couple of years has left me with a better grasp of the technologies and personalities of the industrial revolution in the late 18th and early 19th Century.

His narrative and thesis is that in England you had the Industrial Revolution as a result of two factors. First is that Britain was a high wage labor market at the time and the availability of coal as a fuel source. In this the author takes a slightly differing tact to other books I have read lately such as `The Most Powerful Idea in the World' and `The Industrial Revolutionaries'. These books cover the technology of the steam engine and the individuals behind the ideas as well as the spread of techniques of the revolution. Here the emphasis is more upon the economics behind the movement, as benefit's a book in a series titled `New Approaches to Economic and Social History'. It is a bit dryer and more academic tome than either of the other two volumes I mentioned, and honestly reading those has helped me approach this book more productively

The state of the British labour market during this period has been attributed to the aftereffects of the plague and other epidemics over the previous centuries.Read more ›
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2.0 out of 5 starsFish or fowl?
By reader 451 on January 20, 2010
Format: Paperback
The problem with Allen's latest production is that it is neither frankly a manual nor an academic work. If it is meant as the former, it is too argumentative, and if the latter it lacks proper supporting material.

Allen's argument is that the industrial revolution happened in Britain and could only happen there, because it had high wages and low energy costs, in the eighteenth century. The book models the labour savings of certain technological innovations to show that these were only worthwhile in Britain. Thus it says the spinning jenny could only make a positive return in Britain, not France or India. But as an example of its flawed assumptions, it supposes that the workers manning the jenny would only work part-time. Recalculating Allen's IRRs based on full-time work shows the jenny was just as worthwhile elsewhere. Indeed, the question is how Britain managed to flood France with cottons after signing the free-trade treaty of 1786, if French manual costs remained lower than British mechanised costs.

Allen also runs a regression-type model to explain the industrial revolution using different factors (government, energy costs, trade, enclosure) across different countries and sub-periods. But the factors are hand picked and the correlations certainly say nothing about causes. This all sounds rather futile. The last chapters are more interesting: on invention and the role of the Enlightenment, looking at a group of seventy major and less major inventors and their links with Enlightenment figures and institutions, as well as the role of broader cultural factors, such as interest in experimentation, belief in a Newtonian / mechanical world, and numeracy. If you have to read this book, I would advise checking the introduction and then skipping to that section.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsEssential for understanding economic development

This is brilliant and very readable insight into the preconditions that led to the industrial revolution occurring first in Britain, and then spreading to other parts of the world. Read more

Published 9 months ago by R. Nelson
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

Boring

Published 11 months ago by AudioGeek914
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

Good read

Published 16 months ago by Nick Newman
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Wonderful quality!! Excellently prompt delivery also. Thank you.

Published on September 6, 2014 by Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 starsNot what I expected

I bought this for a graduate directed readings. I think I paid something in the $90 range, and I feel like it's way overpriced. There's some good information to glean from it. Read more

Published on May 13, 2014 by Justin Wollenberg
5.0 out of 5 starsAwesome

Great book! It was delivered early! Very satisfied. Great service.
Allen is a great writer I would recommend this to any other Econ student.

Published on October 18, 2013 by Alex
1.0 out of 5 starsA clear agenda...

Certainly unlike any other book I've read on the Industrial Revolution in Britain! It had a 'Wikipedia' feel to it; the information frequently distorted from the facts! Read more

Published on September 3, 2013 by A Whitehead
5.0 out of 5 starsA Fascinating Account of How and Why the Industrial Revolution Started...

This very interesting and readable book explains how and why the Industrial Revolution started in the UK and not somewhere else. Read more

Published on August 12, 2013 by Anthony Lees
5.0 out of 5 starsGift for my son

I got this as a gift for my son, he had it on his Christmas wish list! He was very pleased, it was exactly as described by the seller and I received the book in a timely manner. Read more

Published on December 31, 2012 by Filipowski
5.0 out of 5 starsWhat happened to our cheap energy!

This book I bought for my husband! His own words.... "Very well written and interesting book. As a non economist I found some parts a bit heavy and the book could be greatly... Read more

Published on February 19, 2012 by Francisca

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