Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition
- 1 The starting-point
- 2 The demographic revolution
- 3 The agricultural revolution
- 4 The commercial revolution
- 5 The transport revolution
- 6 The cotton industry
- 7 The iron industry
- 8 The sources of innovation
- 9 The role of labour
- 10 The role of capital
- 11 The role of the banks
- 12 The adoption of free trade
- 13 The role of government
- 14 Economic growth and economic cycles
- 15 Standards of living
- 16 The achievement
- Guide to further reading
- Subject index
- Index of authors cited
13 - The role of government
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition
- 1 The starting-point
- 2 The demographic revolution
- 3 The agricultural revolution
- 4 The commercial revolution
- 5 The transport revolution
- 6 The cotton industry
- 7 The iron industry
- 8 The sources of innovation
- 9 The role of labour
- 10 The role of capital
- 11 The role of the banks
- 12 The adoption of free trade
- 13 The role of government
- 14 Economic growth and economic cycles
- 15 Standards of living
- 16 The achievement
- Guide to further reading
- Subject index
- Index of authors cited
Summary
It is usual to regard the British industrial revolution as a spontaneous event, and to the extent that the outcome of the first industrial revolution was something which no government could have been expected consciously to contrive it was indeed spontaneous. But it should not be supposed therefore that government's role in the process was entirely passive. On the contrary, then—as now—the ineptitude or competence of governments was an important fact in retarding or accelerating economic growth. Changes in the conditions of supply and demand under which the different industries operated, called for, and produced, changes in economic legislation. Failure to legislate could be as important as new legislation in assisting or hindering the structural change which was essential to effective industrialization.
One of the myths that has grown up about the industrial revolution in England is that it happened in the absence of rather than because of government intervention, that government's role in the process was to efface itself as rapidly as possible in order to allow private enterprise to pursue its beneficent part in generating sustained economic growth. A famous passage by Adam Smith, in a chapter advocating free trade, provided the rationale for this legend by arguing that the maximization of private profit by individuals involves the maximization of national income.
As every individual … endeavours as much as he can both to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry and so to direct that industry that its produce may be of the greatest value; every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can.[…]
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The First Industrial Revolution , pp. 219 - 237Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1980