Article ID: CBB969005743

Factor prices and induced technical change in the industrial revolution (2023)

unapi

Using historical data for the 1700–1914 period, this paper analyses the nature and direction of technical change in Britain. The evidence in this paper indicates that, over this long period, labour-saving technology adoption was a major response to changes in relative factor prices, thus supporting the hypothesis that ‘induced innovation’ was a major driver of technical change during the British industrial revolution. Labour saving was made possible and sustained by capital-augmenting and energy-augmenting technical change coupled with continuous capital accumulation and abundant energy supplies. This process placed the British economy on a higher capital–labour ratio equilibrium, and was the primary force driving sustained productivity growth, which further raised wages and living standards.

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB969005743/

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Authors & Contributors
MacLeod, Christine
Allen, Robert C.
Cooke, Anthony
Horn, Jeff
Hultman, Martin
Jones, Christopher F.
Journals
Economic History Review
Brussels Economic Review
Business History Review
Historical Journal
History and Technology
Journal of Historical Geography
Publishers
Cambridge University Press
Manchester University Press
Carnegie Publishing
Grove Press
Harvard University Press
Johns Hopkins University Press
Concepts
Industrial revolution
Technological innovation
Technology and economics
Industrialization
Energy resources and technologies
Technology
People
Newcomen, Thomas
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
20th century, early
20th century, late
21st century
Enlightenment
Places
Great Britain
England
United States
Europe
Scotland
Ireland
Institutions
Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (Great Britain)
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