1992/12/01 by Trevor R. Griffiths, Philip Hunt, Patrick Karl O’Brien · 2 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Economic Growth and Productivity #Pace #Industrial Revolution #Productivity #Economics #Industrialisation #Textile industry #Technological change #Textile #Industrial organization #Commerce #Economy #Market economy #Geography #Economic growth #Political science #Macroeconomics #Law
paper · doi:10.1017/s0022050700011943
openalex publication_date 1992/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
An analysis of innovations in the eighteenth-century British textile industry is the basis for an evaluation of aggregate studies of invention during the Industrial Revolution, derived from patent evidence alone. Disaggregation of the data challenges recent generalizations concerning the pace and pattern of technical change over the period. Discontinuities in the nature of invention, promoting an acceleration in total factor productivity growth, are traced to the 1790s. Prior to that date, industrial development conformed to a pattern of Smithian growth, as manufacturers diversified their output in response to an expanding domestic market for consumer goods.