The Great Escape
Between 1760 and 1840, Britain broke the Malthusian trap. Productivity outran population, and per-capita income surged: $\approx \$1{,}000\approx \$2{,}700$ in 1870.
The escape bundle
| Ingredient | Why it mattered |
|---|---|
| Cheap coal | Energy stopped competing with food |
| Steam engine | Converted coal into mechanical work |
| Textile machines | First mass mechanisation |
| Institutions | Patents and property rewarded risk |
The factory system replaced putting-out, centralising powered machinery. Agriculture fell; manufacturing rose. Britain became the first majority-urban nation, sparking the demographic transition as death rates fell before birth rates.
Why Britain First?
Robert Allen's thesis explains the puzzle: .
British wages were high and coal was cheap. Substituting labour with coal-powered machines was profitable in Lancashire, but not in low-wage Bengal, where machines would never pay back.
Key Contrasts & Pitfalls
| Concept | Definition / Reality |
|---|---|
| Great Divergence | Pomeranz's debate on China vs Britain |
| Pitfall | It was not British genius, but price structures |
Joel Mokyr stresses the industrial Enlightenment: networks linking science to craft. No monocausal theory works; energy, wages, and institutions aligned for a contingent revolution.