Structural Change and Economic Growth in the British Economy before the Industrial Revolution, 1500-1800

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: University of Essex; University of Groningen
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050718000396
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 862-903
• 关键词: wages; england; population; apprenticeship; MARKETS

摘要

Structural transformation is a key indicator of economic development. We present the first time series of male labor sectoral shares for England and Wales before 1800, using a large sample of probate and apprenticeship data to produce national- and county-level estimates. England experienced a rapid decline in the share of workers in agriculture between the early seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, associated with rising agricultural and especially industrial productivity; Wales saw few changes. Our results show that England experienced unusually early structural change and highlight the mid-seventeenth century as a turning point.