ABSTRACT
A study of the early stages of economic growth whereby the industrialized countries of the world achieved their present relatively high standards of living might be expected to throw some light on the growth process itself. This chapter considers the evidence of early British national income estimates in illuminating the process of the first industrial revolution. The evidence suggests moreover that the gap between the industrialized countries and the unindustrialized countries of the world is still widening. It is generally accepted that the Industrial Revolution took place in Britain towards the end of the eighteenth century. In considering the genesis of this process of rapid industrialization, it is of some interest to study the characteristics of the economy which first gave rise to it. The statistical evidence that England had already achieved an appreciable level of economic development by the end of the seventeenth century is of course supported by more general data on its economic life.
