In addition to this, Crouzet feels that (14)
“It is obvious that, from the moment when industrialisation spread ,the share of the pioneer countries in world industrial production was bound to diminish . It was also unlikely that England would stay ahead in every field; new competitors with special comparative advantages could forge ahead in certain specialities and even trespass on traditional British preserves. Above all, when there was a country like the United States , which spread over half a continent, with immense natural resources, a large population that was energetic and educated, together with various other conditions favourable to growth, it was inevitable that she would become a great industrial power and finally overtake a small island ”
Supple ponders Britain` s economic situation at the end of the nineteenth century?(15) ?Given the fact that national income and living standards continued to grow, and that Britain` s international position as a capital market and supplier of financial and commercial services boomed, it is difficult to see why the last years of the century got their original reputation in the first place.” Indeed, the British consumer might have been tempted to ask ? What depression?? as public` s wages rose at a time when prices were falling and they were now able to buy “consumer” products, which were supplied by Germany and not Britain.
Ensor reasons that (16) ?If we combine the price and wage movements together in order to find the movement of `real wages`, we may calculate that as between 1860 and 1900 they had improved about 77 per cent?
Britain was continuing to invest abroad and in the old original industries, as the cost of replacing plant would have been prohibitive and profits remained satisfactory.
Saul` s influential work is satisfied that (17)
?It is apparent that there is no one reason for Britain` s apparent industrial decline . There may have been institutional problems but the heritage of Britain `s industrial start and the peculiar market difficulties of the late nineteenth century are the most positive reasons we can propose. It is enough to know that the rate of growth of productivity had been falling steadily for 30 years or more and that this was in direct contrast to Britain` s main competitors. ?
DORMOIS contends that by 1913, Britain still enjoyed the highest standard of living and had transformed the `first industrial nation` into the first mass consumption society, in that services had outgrown manufacturing activities, was enjoying the fruits of her earlier endeavours, and was ?still the example historically closest to optimal wealth creation.?(18)
It appears then, in conclusion, that early British scholars of this period of the economy have been unduly harsh on the British entrepreneur. He was n` t ?the most important single reason for the relative decline of the British economy ?, but his inexperience of the unprecedented complexities of a new world economy were certainly a factor. His mistakes, in hindsight were understandable, but not quite as serious as first thought, and it was almost as if Britain was economically pre-ordained to evolve alternatively into the domination of the trade and finance industry.
BibliographyDerek Aldcroft, `The entrepreneur and the British economy`, in `Economic History Review`2nd ser., 17 (August 1964) pp .113-134. In Donald N. McCloskey with Lars G. Sandberg, ?From damnation to Redemption: Judgements on the Late Victorian Entrepreneur,? in Donald N. McCloskey (ed); `Enterprise and Trade in Victorian Britain, Essays in Historical Economics,` (London, George Allen & Unwin 1981).
Derek Aldcroft (ed),` Development of British industry p 34f in Donald N. McCloskey with Lars G. Sandberg, ?From damnation to Redemption: Judgements on the Late Victorian Entrepreneur,? in Donald N. McCloskey (ed); `Enterprise and Trade in Victorian Britain, Essays in Historical Economics,` (London, George Allen & Unwin 1981) .
Francois Crouzet , `The Victorian Economy`,(London, Methuen & Co Ltd, 1982).
Michael Dintenfass, ` The Decline of Industrial Britain 1870-1980`(London, Routledge 1992)
Jean-Pierre Dormois ,`Late Victorian Economic Performance in the Continental Mirror` in `Nederlansch Economisch-Historisch Archief Volume 7 Number 2,`(Netherlands,1993) p.107-122
http://www.neha.nl/publications/bul9302_dormois.htmlSir Robert Ensor, `England 1870-1914`(Oxford, Clarendon Press in Oxford 1936)
E.J. Hobsbawm, `Industry and Empire`(London, Pelican 1968)
P.Lundgreen, `The organisation of science and technology in France: a German perspective`, in R.Fox and G. Weisz, eds., ?The organisation of science and technology in France ?(Cambridge,1980) in
Jean-Pierre Dormois ,`Late Victorian Economic Performance in the Continental Mirror` in `Nederlansch Economisch-Historisch Archief Volume 7 Number 2,`(Netherlands,1993) p.107-122
http://www.neha.nl/publications/bul9302_dormois.htmlDonald N. McCloskey with Lars G. Sandberg, ?From damnation to Redemption: Judgements on the Late Victorian Entrepreneur,? in Donald N. McCloskey (ed);? Enterprise and Trade in Victorian Britain, Essays in Historical Economics,? (London, George Allen & Unwin 1981)
L.G.Sandberg, ?The Entrepreneur and technological change? in Roderick Floud and Donald McCloskey eds, ?The Economic History of Britain since 1700. 2.1860 to the 1970s?,(Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1981)
S. B. Saul, `The Myth of the Great Depression`(London, Papermac 1969)
Barry Supple, `Foreword` in Donald N. McCloskey, ed ? Enterprise and Trade in Victorian Britain, Essays in Historical Economics? (London, George Allen & Unwin 1981)
Footnotes(1) in McCloskey,1981, p. xiii)
(2) in McCloskey, 1964, p.57
(3)(Ensor,1936,p.277)
(4)(Dintenfass,1992, p.19)
(5)(Dintenfass, 1992 p38)
(6)(Hobsbawm ,1968, p.168-169)
(7)(Hobsbawm, 1968, p. 185)
(8)(Lundgreen, 1980,p.311-332)
(9)(Sandberg, 1981, p.102)
(10)(Dintenfass,1992, p.26)
(11)(Dormois,1993, p.107-122)
(12)(McCloskey,1981, p.62).
(13)(Aldcroft.ed,1968, p.34)
(14)(Francois Crouzet, 1982 p. 379)
(15)(Supple,1981, p. xii)
(16)(Ensor:1936: p.275)
(17)(SB Saul, 1969,p.220)
(18)(Dormois, 1993,p. 107-122)