Industrial+Revolution+in+Great+Britain

Kyungna Kim


 * Prompt**: Discuss the developments that led Great Britain to become a dominant economic power in the 18th and 19th centuries.


 * Industrial Revolution**
 * People wanted access to the basic means of life
 * Use of mechanical energy as opposed to organic or exhaustible
 * Rising per capita output, cheaper goods, higher standards of living


 * Britain’s advantage**
 * Island status: Britain did not need a standing army
 * Overseas empire: Proximity to ocean (natural resources)
 * Due to Agricultural Revolution, Britain’s population increased
 * Use of banks and credit in economy
 * British government enacted enclosure acts to promote agriculture and laissez-faire
 * Use of private property
 * Development of navy and acquisition of foreign colonies for materials and wealth
 * People were interesting in profit and commerce

**Economic Theorists**  · Incremental supply growth can never keep up with exponential human growth  · Need for population control  · Increased wages lead to more children = more labor supply, lower income  · Humans cannot improve standard of living
 * Malthus’s __Essay on Human Population__
 * Ricardo’s Iron Law of Wages

· Flying Shuttle (John Kay): increased weaving speed and demand for spun yarn · Spinning Jenny (James Hargeaves): User could spin 8+ threads · Water frame and mule (Richard Arkwright): Water power added to jenny · Power loom (Edmund Cartwright): Powerful and cost effective over hand looming · James Watt perfected steam engine using a separate condenser and rotary motion · Iron smelting employed charcoal; Darby made blast furnace using coke iron · Trevithick created steam-powered engine · Stephenson created Rocket, which was a perfected, faster version
 * Innovations in Industry**
 * Textile Industry
 * Steam Power

Source: AP Achiever