Before the industrial revolution prolonged economic growth was unachievable. All economies were organic, dependent on plant photosynthesis to provide food, raw materials, and energy. This was true both of heat energy, derived from burning wood, and mechanical energy provided chiefly by human and animal muscle. The flow of energy from the sun captured by plant photosynthesis was the basis of all production and consumption. Britain began to escape the old restrictions by making increasing use of the vast stock of energy contained in coal measures, initially as a source of heat energy but eventually also of mechanical energy, thus making possible the industrial revolution. In this concise and accessible account of change between the reigns of Elizabeth I and Victoria, Wrigley describes how during this period Britain moved from the economic periphery of Europe to becoming briefly the world's leading economy, forging a path rapidly emulated by its competitors.

E.A. Wrigley, the leading historian of industrial England, exposes the inadequacy of what was once accepted wisdom regarding England's industrial revolution and suggests what he believes should replace it. He examines the issues from three viewpoints: economic growth; the transformation of the urban-rural balance; and demographic change in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In addition, he shows why England's early modern economy and society grew faster and more dynamically than its continental neighbors.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

The Pickering Masters Works of Thomas Robert Malthus is the first and only collected edition of the works of this major thinker. Texts have been edited by an expert team to reflect the development of Malthus' thought. The collation of the texts of different editions of his major works show, both in small details and in the substantial development of the argument, the progression of the writer's ideas.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

English Population History from Family Reconstitution 1580-1837 is the most important single contribution to English historical demography since Wrigley and Schofield's Population History of England. It represents the culmination of work carried out at the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure over the past quarter-century. This work demonstrates the value of the technique of family reconstitution as a means of obtaining accurate and detailed information about fertility, morality, and nuptiality in the past. Indeed, more is now known about many aspects of English demography in the parish register period than about the post-1837 period when the Registrar-General collected and published information. Using data from 26 parishes, the authors show clearly that their results are representative not only of the demographic situation of the parishes from which the data were drawn, but also of the country as a whole. Some very surprising features of the behaviour of past populations are brought to light for the first time.

The industrial revolution transformed the productive power of societies. It did so by vastly increasing the individual productivity, thus delivering whole populations from poverty. In this new account by one of the world's acknowledged authorities the central issue is not simply how the revolution began but still more why it did not quickly end. The answer lay in the use of a new source of energy. Pre-industrial societies had access only to very limited energy supplies. As long as mechanical energy came principally from human or animal muscle and heat energy from wood, the maximum attainable level of productivity was bound to be low. Exploitation of a new source of energy in the form of coal provided an escape route from the constraints of an organic economy but also brought novel dangers. Since this happened first in England, its experience has a special fascination, though other countries rapidly followed suit.

Before the industrial revolution prolonged economic growth was unachievable. All economies were organic, dependent on plant photosynthesis to provide food, raw materials, and energy. This was true both of heat energy, derived from burning wood, and mechanical energy provided chiefly by human and animal muscle. The flow of energy from the sun captured by plant photosynthesis was the basis of all production and consumption. Britain began to escape the old restrictions by making increasing use of the vast stock of energy contained in coal measures, initially as a source of heat energy but eventually also of mechanical energy, thus making possible the industrial revolution. In this concise and accessible account of change between the reigns of Elizabeth I and Victoria, Wrigley describes how during this period Britain moved from the economic periphery of Europe to becoming briefly the world's leading economy, forging a path rapidly emulated by its competitors.

The industrial revolution transformed the productive power of societies. It did so by vastly increasing the individual productivity, thus delivering whole populations from poverty. In this new account by one of the world's acknowledged authorities the central issue is not simply how the revolution began but still more why it did not quickly end. The answer lay in the use of a new source of energy. Pre-industrial societies had access only to very limited energy supplies. As long as mechanical energy came principally from human or animal muscle and heat energy from wood, the maximum attainable level of productivity was bound to be low. Exploitation of a new source of energy in the form of coal provided an escape route from the constraints of an organic economy but also brought novel dangers. Since this happened first in England, its experience has a special fascination, though other countries rapidly followed suit.

Presents the latest research on the causes and consequences of British population change from the medieval period to the eve of the Industrial Revolution, in both town and countryside Population, Welfare and Economic Change presents the latest research on the causes and consequences of British population change from the medieval period to the eve of the Industrial Revolution, in both town and countryside. Its overarching concern is with the economic and demographic decision-making of individuals and groups and the extent to which these were constrained by institutions and resources. Within this, the volume's particular focus is on population growth: its causes and the welfare challenges it posed. Several chapters investigate the success with which the English Old Poor Law provided care for the poor and elderly, and new work on alternative welfare institutions, such as almshouses, is also presented. A further distinctive feature of this book is its comparative perspective. By making systematic comparisons between economic and demographic developments in pre-industrial Britain and those taking place in various regions of contemporary Continental Europe and Russia, several chapters uncover how far Britain in this period was 'different'. Stimulating to experts and students alike, Population, Welfareand Economic Change offers overviews and summaries of the latest scholarship by leading economic historians and historical demographers, alongside detailed case studies which showcase the original research of younger scholars. Chris Briggs is Lecturer in Medieval British Economic and Social History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Selwyn College. P.M. Kitson is a former Research Associate at the Cambridge Group for the Historyof Population and Social Structure and Bye-Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge. S.J. Thompson is a former J.H. Plumb Fellow and Director of Studies in History at Christ's College, Cambridge. CONTRIBUTORS: Lorraine Barry, Jeremy Boulton, Chris Briggs, Bruce M.S. Campbell, Tracy Dennison, Nigel Goose, R.W. Hoyle, Peter Kitson, Julie Marfany, Rebecca Oakes, Sheilagh Ogilvie, Stephen Thompson, Samantha Williams, Sir Tony Wrigley, Margaret Yates

The aim of this book is to demonstrate both the difficulties and the opportunities which the accumulation of statistical information in economically advanced countries offers for studying nineteenth-century society in depth. The chief emphasis is upon quantitative methods of analysis. The main focus of the attention is the census - what information was required on census night; how the information was collected; how accurately and completely population characteristics were recorded, the problems which arise in attempting to use either the published census volumes or the enumerators' books; and the techniques which have proved useful in analysis. Related topics covered include the study of family structure, the use of information about occupation, the measurement of migration, criminal statistics, educational provision and sampling in historical research.

Sir Tony Wrigley's classic regional study of industrial development and demographic change in the Austrasian coalfield belt (stretching from Pas-De-Calais in the West to the Ruhr in the East) was first published in 1959. Its first part deals with the circumstances which encouraged more rapid industrial growth in some areas while inhibiting in others, and with the relationship between regional economic growth and the increase of industrial population. The second part deals with the demographic history of the coalfield industrial areas; their relation to the sociology of those areas; and the sources of the population growth which took place in them. In both parts the discussion centres on the contrast between the coalfield industrial areas and the three national units of France, Belgium and Germany on the one hand; and on the other on the contrasts which existed within the coalfield industrial areas themselves. Industrial Growth and Population Change deliberately strays across the conventional boundaries of social scientific analysis, embracing economic history, historical geography, demography and sociology. The underlying thesis is that economic historians have tended too readily to suppose that the national entity is the appropriate unit of study. Regional or local analysis is sometimes equally or more revealing about the nature of major changes taking place and the reasons for them.

English Population History from Family Reconstitution 1580-1837 is the most important single contribution to English historical demography since Wrigley and Schofield's Population History of England. It represents the culmination of work carried out at the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure over the past quarter-century. This work demonstrates the value of the technique of family reconstitution as a means of obtaining accurate and detailed information about fertility, morality, and nuptiality in the past. Indeed, more is now known about many aspects of English demography in the parish register period than about the post-1837 period when the Registrar-General collected and published information. Using data from 26 parishes, the authors show clearly that their results are representative not only of the demographic situation of the parishes from which the data were drawn, but also of the country as a whole. Some very surprising features of the behaviour of past populations are brought to light for the first time.

The Industrial Revolution produced the modern world, a world of increased affluence, longevity, urbanization, and travel. This book illuminates how the great surge of economic growth that determined these changes was not expected, and often went unnoticed. The author begins by discussing the kind of substantial economic growth that was predicted at the time, and goes on to cover the growth that was unexpected. The link between these two types of growth is presented in the context of English economic growth between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries and leads the author to challenge convincingly the conventional view that the Industrial Revolution was a simple, unitary, and consciously progressive phenomenon. .E.A. Wrigley is Senior Research Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford University. He is the author of several books, among them, Population and History (McGraw-Hill) The Population History of England (CUP) and Continuity, Chance and Change (CUP).

This is the first paperback edition of a classic work of recent English historiography, first published by Edward Arnold in 1981. Numerous traditional assumptions are qualified, confirmed, or overturned, and the authors marshall a mass of statistical material into a series of clear, lucid arguments about past patterns of demographic behavior. In a new short preface, Wrigley and Schofield consider the debate engendered by their Population History, the impact of which has been felt far beyond the traditional disciplinary confines of historical demography.

E.A. Wrigley, the leading historian of industrial England, exposes the inadequacy of what was once accepted wisdom regarding England's industrial revolution and suggests what he believes should replace it. He examines the issues from three viewpoints: economic growth; the transformation of the urban-rural balance; and demographic change in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In addition, he shows why England's early modern economy and society grew faster and more dynamically than its continental neighbors.