The role of slavery in driving Britain's economic development is often debated, but seldom given a central place. In their remarkable new book, Maxine Berg and Pat Hudson ‘follow the money’ to document in revealing detail the role of slavery in the making of Britain’s industrial revolution. Slavery was not just a source of wealth for a narrow circle of slave owners who built grand country houses and filled them with luxuries. The forces set in motion by the slave and plantation trades seeped into almost every aspect of the economy and society. In textile mills, iron and copper smelting, steam power, and financial institutions, slavery played a crucial part. Things we might think far removed from the taint of slavery, such as eighteenth-century fashions for indigo-patterned cloth, sweet tea, snuff boxes, mahogany furniture, ceramics and silverware, were intimately connected. Even London’s role as a centre for global finance was partly determined by the slave trade as insurance, financial trading and mortgage markets were developed in the City to promote distant and risky investments in enslaved people. The result is a bold and unflinching account of how Britain became a global superpower, and how the legacy of slavery persists. Acknowledging Britain’s role in slavery is not just about toppling statues and renaming streets. We urgently need to come to terms with slavery’s inextricable links with Western capitalism, and the ways in which many of us continue to benefit from slavery to this day.

The Routledge Handbook of Global Economic History documents and interprets the development of economic history as a global discipline from the later nineteenth century to the present day. Exploring the normative and relativistic nature of different schools and traditions of thought, this handbook not only examines current paradigmatic western approaches, but also those conceived in less open societies and in varied economic, political and cultural contexts. In doing so, this book clears the way for greater critical understanding and a more genuinely global approach to economic history. This handbook brings together leading international contributors in order to systematically address cultural and intellectual traditions around the globe. Many of these are exposed for consideration for the first time in English. The chapters explore dominant ideas and historiographical trends, and open them up to critical transnational perspectives. This volume is essential reading for both academics and students in economic and social history. As this field of study is very much a bridge between the social sciences and humanities, the issues examined in the book will also have relevance for those seeking to understand the evolution of other academic disciplines under the pressures of varied economic, political and cultural circumstances, on both national and global scales.

The Routledge Handbook of Global Economic History documents and interprets the development of economic history as a global discipline from the later nineteenth century to the present day. Exploring the normative and relativistic nature of different schools and traditions of thought, this handbook not only examines current paradigmatic western approaches, but also those conceived in less open societies and in varied economic, political and cultural contexts. In doing so, this book clears the way for greater critical understanding and a more genuinely global approach to economic history. This handbook brings together leading international contributors in order to systematically address cultural and intellectual traditions around the globe. Many of these are exposed for consideration for the first time in English. The chapters explore dominant ideas and historiographical trends, and open them up to critical transnational perspectives. This volume is essential reading for both academics and students in economic and social history. As this field of study is very much a bridge between the social sciences and humanities, the issues examined in the book will also have relevance for those seeking to understand the evolution of other academic disciplines under the pressures of varied economic, political and cultural circumstances, on both national and global scales.

This volume of essays builds upon renewed interest in the long-run global development of wealth and inequality stimulated by the publication of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century. It brings together an international team of leading economic historians and economists to provide an overview of global developments in the theory and reality of inequality and its salience in the modern world order. The contributors take stock of the key concepts involved in contemporary debates capital, wealth and income distribution, economic development, private and collective assets, financialization, global liberalisation and evaluate the evidence for both common and contrasting historical trends in national statistical data sources. To the developed economies upon which Piketty drew are added contributions covering Latin America, Africa, India and Japan, providing a global perspective upon a global phenomenon. The book seeks to provide readers with a deeper awareness and understanding of the significance of inequality in economic development, the varying pace and nature of economic change around the world, and the manner in which this process of change affects the distribution of incomes and wealth in diverse economies. The collection marks an important step in the process of developing Piketty's analytical framework and empirical material, overcoming some of their limitations and helping to cement a lasting place for inequality in the future agenda of economics and economic history.

Fully updated and carefully revised, this new 2nd edition of History by Numbers stands alone as the only textbook on quantitative methods suitable for students of history. Even the numerically challenged will find inspiration. Taking a problem-solving approach and using authentic historical data, it describes each method in turn, including its origin, purpose, usefulness and associated pitfalls. The problems are developed gradually and with narrative skill, allowing readers to experience the moment of discovery for each of the interpretative outcomes. Quantitative methods are essential for the modern historian, and this lively and accessible text will prove an invaluable guide for anyone entering the discipline.

This volume of essays builds upon renewed interest in the long-run global development of wealth and inequality stimulated by the publication of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century. It brings together an international team of leading economic historians and economists to provide an overview of global developments in the theory and reality of inequality and its salience in the modern world order. The contributors take stock of the key concepts involved in contemporary debates capital, wealth and income distribution, economic development, private and collective assets, financialization, global liberalisation and evaluate the evidence for both common and contrasting historical trends in national statistical data sources. To the developed economies upon which Piketty drew are added contributions covering Latin America, Africa, India and Japan, providing a global perspective upon a global phenomenon. The book seeks to provide readers with a deeper awareness and understanding of the significance of inequality in economic development, the varying pace and nature of economic change around the world, and the manner in which this process of change affects the distribution of incomes and wealth in diverse economies. The collection marks an important step in the process of developing Piketty's analytical framework and empirical material, overcoming some of their limitations and helping to cement a lasting place for inequality in the future agenda of economics and economic history.

Fully updated and carefully revised, this new 2nd edition of History by Numbers stands alone as the only textbook on quantitative methods suitable for students of history. Even the numerically challenged will find inspiration. Taking a problem-solving approach and using authentic historical data, it describes each method in turn, including its origin, purpose, usefulness and associated pitfalls. The problems are developed gradually and with narrative skill, allowing readers to experience the moment of discovery for each of the interpretative outcomes. Quantitative methods are essential for the modern historian, and this lively and accessible text will prove an invaluable guide for anyone entering the discipline.

The Industrial Revolution has sometimes been regarded as a catastrophe which desecrated the English landscape and brought social oppression and appalling physical hardship to the workers. In Ashton's classic account, however, it is presented as an important and beneficial mark of progress. In spite of destructive wars and a rapid growth of population, the material living standards of most of the British people improved, and the technical innovations not only brought economic rewards but also provoked greater intellectual ingenuity.

A new Preface by Pat Hudson surveys recent research in the areas focused on by Ashton and a completely updated bibliography ensures that, 50 years on, this book continues to be valued by students and specialists alike.

This book analyses the sources of finance used in the Yorkshire wool textile sector during a period of rapid expansion, considerable technical change and the gradual transformation from domestic and workshop production to factory industry. Although there has been much recent debate about capital investment proportions and their sources nationally, there is no other study of a region or section capable of testing various hypotheses current in the general literature of the British ‘industrial revolution’. How was capital amassed in proto-industry? How important were merchants in building factories? What role did landowners and the local banking sector? What influence did trade credit and fluctuations in trade credit have on the expansion of productive enterprise? How important was reinvestment and what determined both profitability and the extent to which it was ploughed back into business? The answers to these questions have value for all students of the industrialisation process, whilst the detailed material on Yorkshire is of interest for local study and provides a model of the questions which could be asked in other similar regional studies of the future.

This text examines the origins, purposes, methods and pitfalls of quantitative approaches to history and introduces students to some of the most commonly used tools and techniques, including computer-aided research methods. It situates quantitative history within the wider realm of, and debates surrounding, historical methods. It emphasizes the historian's problems of gathering reliable quantitative evidence and making decisions about suitable techniques and the acceptability and interpretation of results. Various methods used in the display and analysis of data are clearly explained from the formation of various figures, graphs and tables to regression, time series analysis, sampling theory and practice, and economic methods. The book assumes no prior statistical knowledge and includes a wide range of illustrative material drawn from current historical research in social, economic and political history.

This is an introduction to the Industrial Revolution which offers an integrated account of the economic and social aspects of change during the period. Recent revisionist thinking has implied that fundamental change in economic, social and political life at the time of the Industrial Revolution was minimal or non-existent. The author challenges this interpretation, arguing that the process of revision has gone too far; emphasizing continuity at the expense of change and neglecting many historically unique features of the economy and society. Elements given short shrift in many current interpretations are reassigned their central roles. Pat Hudson is Professor of Economics and Social History at the University of Liverpool. This is an introduction to the Industrial Revolution which offers an integrated account of the economic and social aspects of change during the period. Recent revisionist thinking has implied that fundamental change in economic, social and political life at the time of the Industrial Revolution was minimal or non-existent. The author challenges this interpretation, arguing that the process of revision has gone too far, emphasizing continuity at the expense of change and neglecting many historically unique features of the economy and society. Elements given short shrift in many current interpretations are reassigned their central roles. "Students will find this volume demanding and challenging, but their perceptions of both the Industrial Revolution controversy and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century social, economic and industrial history will emerge enlightened and their interest in the period stimulated."--"Business History" "Students will find this volume demanding and challenging, but their perceptions of both the Industrial Revolution controversy and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century social, economic and industrial history will emerge enlightened and their interest in the period stimulated."--"Business History"
"This is a textbook but one that can be read with profit by both professionals and students... Hudson frequently succeeds in neatly summarizing complex discussions. She brings her surveys of the literature right up to date and her knowledge of recent work is impressiven . . . a lively and well-written text."--"The Economic History Review"

It is the contention of this book that industrialization in Britain (and elsewhere) occurred first and foremost within regions rather than in the nation as a whole and that attempts to understand the 'first industrial revolution' as a fundamentally important economic, social and political process are best undertaken with the regional perspective at centre stage. In Regions and Industries a team of distinguished historians contribute a series of interconnected essays illustrative of the richness and variety of fundamental change at regional level. Each essay is focused around a set of clearly articulated themes, concerning the relations between agriculture, population, resources, communications and cultures, and the changing national and international context within which regional economies functioned. The volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the existing theoretical and empirical literature, and emphasizes again the need to evaluate aggregate studies of 'national' variables in the light of contrasting regional experiences.

The internal organisation of production before the development of the factory system is still shrouded in historical mystery. How goods were made before machines, how work was organised before the factory system, how artisans and labourers perceived and lived their work are questions to which we have only hesitant and tentative answers. Hitherto, historians have been too concerned with the emerging features of the modern industrial capitalist order to seek to understand how another and different economy and community worked in its own terms. The essays in this book are intended to begin to remedy this neglect.