The English economy in the seventeenth century oscillated between stagnation and spurts of activity and achieved only modest increases in per capita real income and in output per head per man hour. Where quantitative increases in output did occur, they were often due to better harvests, virgin territory or the application of more manpower. Bottlenecks in production, lack of critical skills, unequal income distribution, low productivity, inflexibility of demand and inelasticities of cost all constrained qualitative growth. The rate of investment decelerated whenever saturation of the market reduced the rate of return.

Despite periodic recessions, the momentum of English economic development was sustained as an upward secular trend. The physical size of the market was extended, most obviously in international trade through re-exports and colonial settlement, and its structure changed. London was the most powerful engine of growth but, after 1650, it was equalled by the aggregated activity of the outports and provincial towns. Scarce resources were better allocated and utilized, distribution costs were reduced, products were diversified and new sources of supply and demand were tapped. Although imports often tended to run ahead of exports, a balance was ultimately struck. The productivity of agriculture increased with regional specialization and market integration; domestic industry slowly improved its range and capacity for import substitution. A majority of the population remained poor, but real wages and domestic consumption gradually increased; production of food outstripped demand and disposable income rose within propertied society.