Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T08:00:18.476Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

13 - Proximate Sources of Growth: Capital and Technology, 1700–1870

from Part II - Factors Governing Differential Outcomes in the Global Economy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2021

By
Alessandro Nuvolari  and
Masayuki Tanimoto
Edited by
Stephen Broadberry  and
Kyoji Fukao
Stephen Broadberry
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Kyoji Fukao
Affiliation:
Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo
Get access

Summary

This chapter is concerned with two fundamental driving forces of the process of modern economic growth: capital accumulation and technical change. The importance of these factors as drivers of productivity growth underwent a major acceleration with the First Industrial Revolution. This chapter surveys the available evidence on capital accumulation since 1700 in different countries, highlighting the expansion of fixed capital. The chapter then outlines the main contours of technical advances of the First Industrial Revolution, noting the critical role played by two technological trajectories: 1) mechanization, and 2) the development of steam power technology. Finally, the chapter discusses the main sources of technical progress in this historical period, flagging some directions for further research.

Keywords

capitalinnovationinvestmentsciencesteam powermachine toolspatentslearning-by-doing
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World , pp. 312 - 338
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramovitz, M. (1993). ‘The Search for the Sources of Growth: Areas of Ignorance Old and New’, Journal of Economic History, 53, 217–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abramovitz, M. and David, P. (1973). ‘Reinterpreting Economic Growth: Parables and Realities’, American Economic Review, 63, 428–439.Google Scholar
Abramovitz, M. and David, P. (2001). ‘Two Centuries of American Macroeconomic Growth: From Exploitation of Resource Abundance to Knowledge-Driven Development’, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research working paper.Google Scholar
Akimoto, H. (1987). Zenkōgyōkajidai no Keizai (Economy in the Pre-industrial Period), Kyoto: Mineruvashobō.Google Scholar
Allen, R. C. (2009). The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, R. C. (2012). ‘Technology and the Great Divergence: Global Economic Development Since 1820’, Explorations in Economic History, 49, 1–16.Google Scholar
Allen, R. C. (2018). ‘Spinning Their Wheels: A Reply to Jane Humphries and Benjamin Schneider’, Oxford Discussion Papers in Economic and Social History, 166, www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/working_papers/4650/166julyallen.pdf (accessed 9 November 2020).Google Scholar
Ashraf, Q. and Galor, O. (2011). ‘Dynamics and Stagnation in the Malthusian Epoch’, American Economic Review, 101, 2003–2041.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bessen, J. and Nuvolari, A. (2016). ‘Knowledge Sharing Among Inventors: Some Historical Perspectives’, in Harhoff, D. and Lakhani, K. (eds.), Revolutionizing Innovation: Users, Communities and Open Innovation, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 135–155.Google Scholar
Bolt, J. and van Zanden, J. L. (2014). ‘The Maddison Project: Collaborative Research on Historical National Accounts’, Economic History Review, 67, 627–651.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, J. (1988). The Sinews of Power. War, Money and the English State, 1688–1783, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Broadberry, S. and de Pleijt, A. (2018). ‘Capital and Economic Growth in Britain, 1270–1870’, paper presented at World Economic History Congress, Boston.Google Scholar
Broadberry, S., Campbell, B., Klein, A., Overton, M. and van Leeuwen, B. (2015). British Economic Growth 1270–1870, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brunt, L. (2006). ‘Rediscovering Risk: Country Banks as Venture Capital Firms in the First Industrial Revolution’, Journal of Economic History, 66, 74–102.Google Scholar
Chapman, S. (1972). The Cotton Industry in the Industrial Revolution, London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Chapman, S. and Butt, J. (1988). ‘The Cotton Industry, 1775–1856’, in Feinstein, C. and Pollard, S. (eds.), Studies in Capital Formation in the United Kingdom, 1750–1920, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 105–125.Google Scholar
Cipolla, C. M. (1962). The Economic History of the World Population, Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Cipolla, C. M. (1976). Before the Industrial Revolution. European Society and Economy, 1000–1700, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Clark, G. (2007). A Farewell to Alms. A Brief Economic History of the World, Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cookson, G. (2018). The Age of Machinery. Engineering the Industrial Revolution, 1770–1850, Woodbridge: Boydell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crafts, N. F. R. (2004). ‘Steam as a General-Purpose Technology: A Growth Accounting Perspective’, Economic Journal, 114, 338–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crafts, N. F. R. (2009). ‘Solow and Growth Accounting: a Perspective from Quantitative Economic History’, History of Political Economy, 41, 200–220.Google Scholar
Crafts, N. F. R. and Mills, T. (2004). ‘Was the 19th century British growth steam powered ? The climacteric revisited’, Explorations in Economic History, 41, 156–171.Google Scholar
Crouzet, F. (1972). ‘Editor’s Introduction’, in Crouzet, F. (ed.), Capital Formation in the Industrial Revolution, London: Methuen.Google Scholar
David, P. (1975). Technical Choice, Innovation and Economic Growth, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Davies, R. and Pollard, S. (1988). ‘The Iron Industry, 1775–1850’, in Feinstein, C. and Pollard, S. (eds.), Studies in Capital Formation in the United Kingdom, 1750–1920, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 73–104.Google Scholar
Dosi, G. (1982). ‘Technological Paradigms and Technological Trajectories: A Suggested Interpretation of the Determinants and Directions of Technical Change’, Research Policy, 11, 147–162.Google Scholar
Feinstein, C. (1988). ‘National Statistics, 1760–1920’ in Feinstein, C. H. and Pollard, S. (eds.), Studies in Capital Formation in the United Kingdom, 1750–1920, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 257–471.Google Scholar
Feinstein, C. (2003). ‘National Income Accounts: Investment and Savings’, in Mokyr, J. (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fenichel, A. H. (1966). ‘Growth and Diffusion of Power in Manufacturing 1838–1919’, in Brady, D. (ed.), Output, Employment and Productivity in the United States after 1980, Chicago: National Bureau of Economic Research, 473–479.Google Scholar
Field, A. (1985). ‘On the Unimportance of Machinery’, Explorations in Economic History, 22, 378–401.Google Scholar
Field, A. (2011). A Great Leap Forward. 1930s Depression and US Economic Growth, New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Fukao, K., Nakamura, N. and Nakabayashi, M. (eds.) (2017). Nihonkeizai no Rekishi (History of Japanese Economy), vol. 2, Tokyo: Iwanamishoten.Google Scholar
Gerschenkron, A. (1962). Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Habakkuk, H. J. (1962). American and British Technology in the Nineteenth Century, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hansen, G. and Prescott, E. (2002). ‘Malthus to Solow’, American Economic Review, 92, 1205–1217.Google Scholar
Hicks, J. (1969). A Theory of Economic History, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jovanovic, B. and Rousseau, P. (2005). ‘General Purpose Technologies’ in Aghion, P. and Durlauf, S. (eds.), Handbook of Economic Growth, vol. IB, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1181–1224.Google Scholar
Kander, A., Malanima, P. and Warde, P. (2013). Power to the People. Energy in Europe over the Last Five Centuries, Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kanefsky, J. W. (1979). The Diffusion of Power Technology in British Industry, 1760–1870, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Exeter.Google Scholar
Kelly, M. (1997). ‘The Dynamics of Smithian Growth’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112, 939–964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khan, B. Z. and Sokoloff, K. L. (2001). ‘The Early Development of Intellectual Property Institutions in the United States’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 15, 233–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landes, D. S. (1969). The Unbound Prometheus. Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lipsey, R. G., Carlaw, K. I. and Bekar, C. (2005). Economic Transformations: General Purpose Technologies and Long-Term Economic Growth, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
MacLeod, C. and Nuvolari, A. (2009). ‘“Glorious Times”: the Emergence of Mechanical Engineering in Early Industrial Britain, c.1700–1850’, Brussels Economic Review, 52, 215–237.Google Scholar
MacLeod, C. and Nuvolari, A. (2012). ‘Technological Change’ in Doyle, W. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Ancien Regime, Oxford University Press, 448–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacLeod, C. and Nuvolari, A. (2016). ‘Inventive Activities, Patents and Early Industrialization: A Synthesis of Research Issues’, Rivista di Storia Economica, 32, 77–107.Google Scholar
Maddison, A. (1982). Phases of Capitalist Development, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Makkai, L. (1981). ‘Productivité et exploitation des sources d’energie (XII–XVII siècle’) in Mariotti, S. (ed.), Produttivita’ e Tecnologie nei Secoli XII–XVIII, Florence: Le Monnier.Google Scholar
Marx, K. (1990). Capital, vol. 1, Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Mokyr, J. (2002). The Gifts of Athena: Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy, Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Moser, P. (2005). ‘How Do Patent Laws Influence Innovation? Evidence from Nineteenth Century World Fairs’, American Economic Review, 95, 1213–1236.Google Scholar
North, D. C. (1981). Structure and Change in Economic History, New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Nuvolari, A. (2019). ‘Understanding Successive Industrial Revolutions: a “Development Block” Approach’, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 32, 33–44.Google Scholar
Ohkawa, K. et al. (1966). Chōkikeizaitōkei vol. 3 Shihon Sutokku (Estimates of Long Term Economic Statistics of Japan since 1868, vol. 3, Capital Stock), Tokyo: Tōyōkeizaishinpōsha.Google Scholar
Paulinyi, A. (1986). ‘Revolution and Technology’, in Porter, R. and Teich, M. (eds.), Revolution in History, Cambridge University Press, 261–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Persson, K. G. (1988). Pre-Industrial Economic Growth. Social Organization and Technical Progress in Europe, Blackwell: Oxford.Google Scholar
Reynolds, T. S. (1983). Stronger than a Hundred Men: A History of the Vertical Water Wheel, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, N. (1963a). ‘Capital Goods, Technology and Economic Growth’, Oxford Economic Papers, 15, 217–227; reprinted in Rosenberg, N. (1976). Perspectives on Technology, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, N. (1963b). ‘Technological Change in the Machine Tool Industry, 1840–1910’, Journal of Economic History, 23, 414–446; reprinted in Rosenberg, N. (1976). Perspectives on Technology, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, N. (1974). ‘Karl Marx on the Economic Role of Science’, Journal of Political Economy, 82, 713–728.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenberg, N. (1976a). ‘Marx as a Student of Technology’, Monthly Review, 28, 56–77.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, N. (1976b). Perspectives on Technology, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rostow, W. W. (1975). How It All Began: Origins of the Modern Economy, London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Samuel, R. (1977). ‘Workshop of the World: Steam Power and Hand Technology in mid-Victorian Britain’, History Workshop, 3, 5–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharp, P., Strulik, H. and Weisdorf, J. (2012). ‘The Determinants of Income in a Malthusian Equilibrium’, Journal of Development Economics, 97, 112–117.Google Scholar
Soete, L., Verspagen, B. and ter Weel, B. (2010). ‘Systems of Innovation’ in Hall, B. and Rosenberg, N. (eds.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, vol. 2, Dordrecht: Elsevier, 1160–1180.Google Scholar
Tanimoto, M. (forthcoming). ‘Introduction and Diffusion: How Did Useful and Reliable Knowledge Feature in the Industrial Development in Early Modern Japan?’, Technology and Culture, 62.Google Scholar
van Neck, A. (1979). Les Debuts de la Machine a Vapeur dans l’Industrie Belge, 1800–1850, Bruxelles: Palais des Academies.Google Scholar
van Zanden, J. L. (2001). ‘Early Modern Economic Growth: A Survey of the European Economy, 1500–1800’, in Prak, M. (ed.), Early Modern Capitalism. Economic and Social Change in Europe, 1400–1800, London: Routledge, 69–87.Google Scholar
von Tunzelmann, G. N. (1978). Steam Power and British Industrialization to 1860, Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
von Tunzelmann, G. N. (1995). Technology and Industrial Progress. The Foundations of Economic Growth, Aldershot: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Voigtlander, N. and Voth, J. (2009). ‘Malthusian Dynamism and the Rise of Europe: Make War, not Love’, American Economic Review, 99, 248–254.Google Scholar
Wrigley, E. A. (2004). Poverty, Progress and Population, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×