Why was there an industrial revolution in Britain?
Britain vs. other European countries is a story of differing social & political conditions. – Britain had strong intellectual property laws well before everyone else – inventors had a material motivation. – Both a broad merchant class and an open-minded aristocracy (say, vs. the French nobility who thought commercial activity crass) ensured plenty of investment opportunity. – Material resources, coal/iron, in relative abundance. Plus good maritime access to other resources (cotton.) – A relatively advanced, efficient agricultural system with a healthy surplus and a rural community that was not tied to the land. Britain had both available labour & the means to feed it – Merchantile tradition, Britain’s vigorous internation trade was able to absorb the ever increasing productivity resulting from industrialisation. – Rather old-hat idea but many point to Protestantism; lazy Catholics and all that. Trust thats enough.
