Essay on Victorian and Edwardian Economic History

In comparison with other competitive countries, Britain’s economy was also lagging behind. One aspect was that Britain’s GDP growth rate was the lowest in Western

Hobsbawm defends the pessimistic view of England’s industrial revolution using the following arguments and evidence. He states that social indicators are more representative of individuals’ standard of living than wages (25-26). Thus, mortality rates strongly suggest a rise from 1811 to 1841, and although variances may be apparent among the available rates, these should not undermine their usefulness to measure the negative impacts that the industrial revolution may have had in England (26). Unemployment for artisans was widespread throughout various cities in 1842 (27). While wages might have been improving for artisans employment was not because of the growing nature of industrialization and the substantial number of workers unemployed during slower expansions and slumps, which, he states, emphasizes the importance to observe quantitative figures, not only qualitative ones (28). In regard to “foodstuffs”, the consumption per capita of tea, sugar, and tobacco remained quite consistent, except during and after evident slumps in which they fell and rose again (30). Furthermore, beef (shown by Smithfield figures, as well as excise on hides and leather) consumption did not rise in correspondence with the population increase, and wheat and milk consumption fell (31-32). He stresses that these assertions are merely to provide suspicion toward the view that the industrial revolution was a positive occurrence, but not to discredit the advances that it provided England, and eventually the Continent and the world, with overall

The Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was arguably the most important turning point in history. It transformed the manufacture of goods from craftsmanship to commercialism, exponentially increasing output and decreasing production cost leading to prosperity and an unprecedented supply of goods for the markets of the world. Industrialization and mass production was the fuel which ignited the flame of capitalism which was already established creating bringing sweeping changes in wealth and its distribution. Within a few generations the very fabric of society was virtually remade as millions left the farms and villages of the countryside for jobs in the cities. This monumental change did not immediately sweep

  The Victorian era in England marked a period of unprecedented technological, scientific, political, and economic advancement.  By the 1840s, the English had witnessed remarkable industrial achievements including the advent of the railways and the photographic negative.  They had witnessed the expansion of the Empire, and, as a result, were living in a time of great economic stability.  Yet they had also seen thousands of people starving-and dying-due to the Irish potato famine and poor conditions and benefits in British factories and witnessed the entire order of society questioned as the working classes began to demand representation in Parliament.    The English also experienced biological

From around 1750 to 1900 Britain went through major changes or transformation in industry, agriculture and transportation that affected everybody’s lives. For some it generally improved their lives, however not all were so lucky. The industrial revolution brought with it many changes good for some and bad for others.

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain during the late 1700s. It took place during the 18th and 19th centuries. Document 3 displays the look of the environment at the beginning of this shift in society. It is filled with smoky chimneys. Machines and factories led to great productions, such as new systems of transportation, more efficient communication, banking systems, a variety of manufactured goods, and an overall improvement of living. Britain was the perfect place for the Industrial Revolution to begin due to its coal and iron. Factories became a necessity because of the increase in demand for British goods (Staff, 2009). Before the Industrial Revolution, transportation consisted of wagons, led by horses. “In the early 1800s, American Robert Fulton built the first commercially successful steamboat” (Staff, 2009). Along

The effects leaching off of industrialization between 1865 and 1900 has many divided outcomes of prosperous pushes forward as well as hefty setbacks. During this time was the drive toward the second industrial revolution, this brought in many more immigrants to the workforce, reconstruction of the south but also the rise of money hungry industry owners (Doc. 4), turning into a movement for power being returned the people (Doc. 5). These little causes have brought much effect in the nation as it progressed it towards the future society and culture.

Although the UK made several mistakes, resulting in their disappointing performance, Germany’s success in the Golden age is the main reason for such a difference in gross domestic product and therefore the main talking point when it comes to economic analysis.

As you can see, England's large workforce, natural resources, expanding economy/banking system, and political stability all helped in their industrialization. Without the workforce, the revolution would not have lasted long. Likewise, without natural resources, the industrialization would have been much harder to accomplish. Furthermore, their economy, banking system, and political stability helped in holding together and strengthening England's hope for industrialization. In the end, without these four key factors, we can infer that England might never have

European nations eager to enhance their wealth and power took the lead in the early 1800’s when Britain became the first to advance from an agrarian life style to an industry based economy. Britain was able to make the switch easier and quicker than other nations because they not only had the drive to do so, they also had a large labor force supported by an ample food supply, that worked in factories to make low cost goods from raw material that was shipped in on a transportation system. Using their brute strength they forced foreign nations to provide raw material, and to provide a place to sell their low-cost goods.

There is no doubt that the Industrial Revolution plays a central role in the modern British history. The structure of British society has forever changed by the impact and consequences of Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution is often stated as the increase of the number of factories, the exercise of steam power in a wide range of area and the mass-production produced by new technology in the course of 1750 to 1850 (Lane, 1978: 72). Engles (1986: 37) argued that the Industrial Revolution’s mainly development were the invention of the steam engine and the cotton industry. As the improvement of technology, the steam engine could produce more power with less

World War I produced major economic changes. British industry had been to a large extent transformed by the mobilization of millions of soldiers and by an unprecedented switch to war production. Under a positive perspective, the economy had shown a new production capacity. Although total output had decreased, due to the smaller workforce, productivity definitely increased. There had been much state-sponsored modernization. Electric power was used more than

The United Kingdom finished World War I a few years prior to the Great Depression, and was a big factor in the length of the depression. The reason why the U.K’s depression’s length was so long was because of the debt that the European countries had grossed during World War I. This debt that had to be paid, left the Europeans in a sticky situation, as they tried to rebuild their economy to what it once was. The effect of this debt and other economic problems had caused the unemployment rate to accelerate from one million to 2.5 million unemployed UK citizens, some cities even reached rates from as high as 70%. When other countries received the hit from the depression, Britain couldn’t export nearly as much as they used to. This was a chain reaction that caused the world to be effected as a whole, and what caused Britain to get hit so strongly. Great Britain didn’t use their Government revenue expansion very strongly to an extent, however later on did increase the

George Bernard Shaw, a nobel Prize for Literature in 1925 once said, “If all the economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion” (Mankiw, 1998: 34). Yet, an economic comparison between the United Kingdom and the United States could still be made to distinguish the country with the better economic growth performance. Important indicators when comparing economies is economic growth rate, which is a measure of the yearly rate of development rate of GDP using the market prices (Ros, 2013: 26). Another indicator is the GDP, which is defined as the total amount of goods and services produced in a country per year (Mankiw, 2009: 521). Also, the inflation rate is used, which is a continuos increase in the prices for goods and services in the consumer price index and it is measured yearly (Herr & Kazandziska, 2011: 74). Lastly, the unemployment rate shows the percentage of people whiling and could work but do not have a job (Macdonald, 1999: 238). This report will compare the economic growth performance of the United States and the United Kingdom since 1990 using four indicators: economic growth rate, GDP, inflation, and unemployment rate.

Trade imbalances. Appendix Table 2 shows that from 1999 to 2007, German unit labor costs fell by five percent, while these costs rose by 20 percent in Greece, 41 percent in Ireland, 19 percent in Italy, 22 percent in Portugal and 28 percent in Spain. These competitiveness gaps offered Germany a huge advantage in the trade, making it a better public