Energy and the English Industrial Revolution / E.A. Wrigley.

"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"-- Provided by publisher

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Cover -- Half-Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Figures -- Tables -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Opening Pandoras Jar -- Overview of the Nature and Structure of the Book -- Part I A Sketch of the Argument -- 1 The Limits to Growth in Organic Economies -- The Views of the Classical Economists -- The Energy Constraint -- Production and Reproduction -- Conclusion -- 2 The Transition From An Organic to An Energy-Rich Economy -- Agricultural Change, Industrial Growth, and Transport Improvements -- Manpower Productivity in Agriculture -- The Energy Revolution -- Conclusion -- Part II Favourable Developments -- 3 Agricultural Change and Urbanisation -- Urban Growth -- The Consumer Revolution -- The Agricultural System -- The Rise in Agricultural Output -- The London Effect -- Conclusion -- 4 Energy and Transport -- The History of Energy Consumption -- Coal Production and Transport Provision -- Other Improvements in Transport Facilities -- Conclusion -- 5 Occupational Structure, Aggregate Income, and Migration -- Occupational Structure and Migration -- Occupational Change and Aggregate Income -- Aggregate Income Trends and Migration -- Conclusion -- 6 Production and Reproduction -- The Components of Population Change -- England in a Wider Setting:160;The Concomitants of Faster Population Growth -- Regional Diversity -- Conclusion -- Retrospect of Part Ii As a Whole -- Part III What Set England Apart From Her Neighbours -- 7 The Timing and Nature of Change in the Industrial Revolution -- Preliminary Considerations -- Relative Growth Rates -- The Escape From the Constraints of An Organic Economy -- The Changing Character of the Growth Surge -- Why the Growth Surge Continued -- A Summary of the Character and Timing of the Changes Which Took Place -- 8 Modernisation and the Industrial Revolution in England -- Introductory Comment -- England and the Netherlands -- The Relationship Between Industrialisation and Modernisation -- National Entities and Lopsided Growth -- Conclusion -- Part IV Retrospective -- 9 The Industrial Revolution and Energy -- The Energy Revolution -- Pandoras Jar Again -- Appendix -- Bibliography -- Index.

Print version record.

English.

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