Exceptionalism and Industrialisation: Britain and its European Rivals, 1688–1815

This book explores the question of British exceptionalism in the period from the Glorious Revolution to the Congress of Vienna. Leading historians examine why Great Britain emerged from years of sustained competition with its European rivals in a discernible position of hegemony in the domains of naval power, empire, global commerce, agricultural efficiency, industrial production, fiscal capacity and advanced technology. They deal with Britain's unique path to industrial revolution and distinguish four themes on the interactions between its emergence as a great power and as the first industrial nation. First, they highlight growth and industrial change, the interconnections between agriculture, foreign trade and industrialisation. Second, they examine technological change and, especially, Britain's unusual inventiveness. Third, they study her institutions and their role in facilitating economic growth. Fourth and finally, they explore British military and naval supremacy, showing how this was achieved and how it contributed to Britain's economic supremacy.

Table of Contents:
List of tables and figures; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Introduction: was British industrialisation exceptional? Leandro Prados de la Escosura; Part I. The Origins of British Primacy: 1. Britain's economic ascendancy in a European context Robert C. Allen; 2. Comparative patterns of colonial trade: Britain and its rivals Javier Cuenca Esteban; Part II. Agriculture and Industrialisation: 3. European farmers and the British 'agricultural revolution' James Simpson; 4. Precocious British industrialisation: a general-equilibrium perspective N. F. R. Crafts and C. Knick Harley; Part III. Technological Change: 5. The European origins of British technological predominance Christine MacLeod; 6. Invention in the Industrial Revolution: the case of cotton James Thomson; 7. Continental responses to British innovations in the iron industry during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Rainer Fremdling; Part IV. Institutions and Growth: 8. The monetary, financial and political architecture of Europe, 1648–1815 Larry Neal; 9. Towards the comparative fiscal history of Britain and France during the 'long' eighteenth century Richard Bonney; 10. Money and economic development in eighteenth-century England Forrest Capie; Part V. War and Hegemony: 11. Naval power: what gave the British naval superiority? Daniel A. Baugh; Conclusions: Institutional change and British supremacy, 1650–1850: some reflections Stanley L. Engerman; Laudatio patritii: Patrick O'Brien and European economic history Gianni Toniolo; References; Index.

About the Author :
Leandro Prados de la Escosura is Professor of Economic History at Universidad Carlos III, Madrid, and Prince of Asturias Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Georgetown.

Review :
'... splendidly informative and thought provoking tribute to a great economic historian.' Times Literary Supplement 'We are brought to the very brink of a new phase of research by this highly significant and suggestive volume.' Business History '... consistently interesting and focused. This book is an important collection'. History