Thomas S. Ashton’s The Industrial Revolution (1760–1830) looks at the early developments of Industrial Revolution during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Ashton illustrates throughout his book the way in which the Industrialization occurred in England. Ashton meticulously looks over English’s political, economical and social elements that allowed England to Industrialize. Throughout the six chapters Ashton provides the reader with convincing evidence and makes sure England is credited in being the first to experience the phenomena of the Industrial Revolution. Ashton argues that the combination of private initiative, deregulation and free trade allowed the Industrial Revolution to flourish. Another economic scholar Ha- Joon Chang argues that free trade theory is flawed and countries that experienced an economic boom had strong government interference. Both scholars present their arguments with strong stattiscal evidence.
The book, organized into six chapters demonstrates a complex understanding of economic, social and political elements that existed in late eighteenth century England. In the first chapter, Ashton shows building blocs that were in place to initially help spur the Industry in England. He points to the social changes that occurred in England. He analyzes population growth from 1760-1830, he argues, the average standard of living increased drastically. Which conciendentially occurred during the same time entrepreneurs and private banks and individuals were pursing venture. Ashton also point to the limited government interference and private property laws that allowed for Enclosures to occur. The Enclosure acts according to Ashton had a pivotal reaction in England. It released people from the land, fo...
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...ch List criticized Britain for preaching free trade to other countries, while having achieved its economic supremacy through high tariff and extensive subsidies.”
Ashton and Chang represent different economic philosophies and at it basic is government interference in business. Ashton argues the deregulation spurred the Industrialization. He sought to establish that Britain is ideal model of protecting property rights and limited government interference. Whereas Ha -Joon Chang argues the British government through high tariff and extensive subsidies helped them gain economic supremacy.
Works Cited
Ha-Joon Chang, Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (: Bloomsbury Press, 2008), 20.
Ha-Joon Chang, Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (Bloomsbury Press, 2008), 25.
Foner, Eric. "Chapter 9: The Market Revolution." Give Me Liberty!: An American History. Third ed. Vol. One. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 332-33. Print.
Though Anglo-American relations are not currently hostile, they were not always this way. This paper will explore the free trade beliefs of Richard Cobden, and show that Americans who rejected his ideas did so out of ignorance and fear. The paper will begin with a description of Cobden’s context and beliefs and then move to an analysis of American Anglophobia and Anglomania and governmental responses to Cobden.
“Men desire to have some share in the management of public affairs chiefly on account of the importance which it gives them.” This famous quote by Adam Smith proves what people in the Enlightenment period wanted the most – free market economy and public services. Adam Smith was, in fact, a Scottish economist, who tried to influence the government and convince the ruler to fulfil people’s wishes and needs. Such craving for an “adjustable” trade, led to the first major economic establishment in the Enlightenment period, laissez faire, which banned the government from interfering with private trade. Adam Smith, its huge supporter, managed to get this concept to disseminate safely with various rules and restrictions attached; otherwise, this method might allow too much freedom. The economy during the Renaissance period, transforming especially with Adam Smith’s innovative theories during the Enlightenment, focused on the urge to limit the government’s ability to interfere with the market.
Roberts, Russell. (2006). The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
One of the darker causes for the Industrial Revolution was the slave trade with overseas colonies at the time. For many merchants who saw the easy money to be made from the voyages, the merchants became extremely rich – and as it is in human nature – these rich merchants wanted to become even more rich, the seemingly best way to do this was to invest profits from the slave trade into the new factories that were arising, this is called “Commercial Revolution”. Britain was one of the few countries that was able to bring in profits from other countries and keep profits in their country, aiding them into being the first country to Revolutionise Industrially.
Dennis Pirages and Christine Sylvester (eds.), Transformations in the Global Political Economy (London: Macmillan, 1989).
O'Brien, Patrick, and Roland Quinault, eds. The Industrial Revolution and British Society. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1993. Print.
In their article, The Imperialism of Free Trade, John Gallagher and Ronald Robinson address the relationship between free trade and European imperialism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Gallagher and Robinson refute the traditional idea of the relationship between imperialism and free trade as being one of two elements in conflict, and instead pose the alternative theory that free trade was simply a tool of European imperialism. This proposition about the nature of the relationship between free trade and imperialism is hugely important in that it addresses types of European imperialism that are frequently overlooked and uncovers the vast amount of influence that European powers exerted even without the presence of traditional formal
Throughout the years Britain had always tried to use the Chinese markets to their advantage. This is what was seen as the biggest and only cause towards starting the First Opium War. Although the British were gaining a profit from selling their own goods to Chinese consumers, they were not making enough to counter the massive amount of spending they were doing on Chines...
Polanyi, Karl. "Societies and Economic Systems," "The Self Regulating Market and Fictitious Commodities: Labour, Land, and Money." "The Great Transformation. Boston: Beacon Press, 1957. pp. 43-55, 68-75
Reich, R. (1991). "The work of nations: Preparing ourselves for twenty-first century capitalism." New York: Alfred Knopf
This paper intends to compare the first industrial revolution of the 17th and 18th centuries and the second industrial revolution of the mid-18th and 19th centuries. It will highlight the transformation from the first revolution to the second revolution, focusing on the presence of giant firms and role of science and technology in economic activities. Additionally, it will introduce the two worldly philosophers Karl Marx and Adam Smith on these issues.
First, Britain had some tremendous natural attributes. It was naturally endowed with many deposits of coal and iron ore, which were used heavily in the early stages of factory production. In addition, Britain was situated at a critical point for international trade. Its position between the United States and the rest of Europe allowed them to have a serious impact in all matters of trade. Likewise, a multitude of navigable waterways, easy access to the sea, and a mild climate all contributed to the onset of industrialism. Britain's topography was conducive to industrialism because its diversity allowed for the production of many agricultural products, preventing any sort of shortage or famine. Evans remarks, “Each single such advantage could be replicated in other European countries and some could be accentuated, but no other nation enjoyed such a rich combination of natural bounties” (111). Furthermore, the nation was free of many trade tariffs that hampered industry in other European nations while featuring a real opportunity for upward movement in society which provided a great incentive for acquiring wealth. Britain also experienced tremendous population growth which provided a potential workforce as well as an increase in the demand for goods.
The Industrial Revolution was a period from 1750 to 1850 where agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and technology went through a period of significant change. These changes had a profound impact on the social and cultural conditions of the time, beginning in the Untied Kingdom and spreading throughout Western Europe, North America, and the rest of the world. The Industrial Revolution, considered a major turning point in history, effected almost every aspect of daily life; through new discoveries in technology came new jobs; through new jobs came new working conditions; through new working conditions came new laws and new politics, the repercussions of which extend to today. As Crump emphasizes: ‘The world as we have come to know it in the twenty-first century is impossible to understand without looking at the foundations laid – mainly in the English-speaking world of the eighteenth century – in the course of what is now known, but not then, as the ‘Industrial Revolution’ .
Philips, T. (2005), ‘Knockoff: The Deadly Trade in Counterfeit Goods’, (Sterling, VA: Kogan Page Ltd.).