PH_Intro

Introduction

Industry

Agriculture

Population

Appendices

Recommended Reading

Innovations often slow to influence economic growth

Growth rates may well have been held back by work patterns and technologies which remained relatively unchanged in many areas of the economy. But the picture is complicated because output and productivity growth on the one hand and major shifts in technology, on the other, do not always occur together. The revolution in information technology in advanced economies since the 1970s has, for example, until recently, been accompanied by unimpressive growth rates. Similarly, in the industrial revolution, some industries such as paper after 1801, wool, soap and candles grew slowly even though they were mechanising and switching to factories, whilst construction and coal mining output and productivity grew at respectable rates, along with agriculture, even though these sectors experienced little change in technologies and were dominated by manual techniques. Many innovations in technology were

The Art of Hat-Making.
Source: Mary Evans Picture Library

faltering, capital hungry, and slow in influencing productivity or economic growth whilst many sectors had the capacity to do well simply by multiplying the number of workers and premises or by better organisation of the workforce. Outside of textiles, in many sectors where small workshops and hand tools predominated, such as the Birmingham and Black Country hardware and small wares trades (making everything from nails and hand tools to snuff boxes, buckles, buttons and trinkets) significant innovations occurred in the use and specialisation of labour (especially female and child labour) and in the introduction of new products and varied product designs. Such innovations, together with changes in marketing, advertising and distribution were as much a part of the industrial revolution as were factories and steam power. Their impact upon productivity may have been less impressive but they nevertheless contributed very significantly to the expanding output of innovative manufactured goods for both domestic and overseas markets.

Risk, uncertainty and the role of the family firm

The decades of the industrial revolution were turbulent and volatile: markets were constantly changing under the impact of war, blockade and trade depressions. Opportunities expanded but risks were high because commercial information was poor and business conditions unpredictable. The many heroic success stories of entrepreneurs, families and firms during the industrial revolution are therefore matched with as many, if not more, examples of bankruptcy and failure. Very few giant firms emerged. In the risky and uncertain business climate, family firms predominated because personal and family relationships, and social networks, provided the levels of trust and confidence necessary for business viability and success. Such

Bradford Parish Church and Vicarage in 1810.
Source: William Scruton, Pen and Pencil Pictures of Old Bradford

familial and social networks were often centred around localised religious groups whose members met regularly at church or chapel. Commitment to roles in local government and local charities and to membership of gentleman's clubs often served further to unite groups of businessmen and their relationships were frequently cemented by the intermarriage of their daughters and sons.