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Sooner than you think: the Pre-1914 UK Productivity Slowdown was Victorian not Edwardian

Author

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  • Nicholas Crafts
  • Terence C Mills

Abstract

This paper re-examines UK productivity growth in the decades before World War I using a new dataset compiled by the Bank of England. We find that the productivity slowdown of the early twentieth century was quite modest and does not deserve to be called a climacteric. A more serious slowdown in labour productivity growth occurred in the 1870s. Neither of these episodes should be regarded as a precedent for the current severe deterioration in UK productivity performance. Nor should a late-Victorian productivity slowdown be attributed to the end of the steam age despite the popularity of this belief.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicholas Crafts & Terence C Mills, 2020. "Sooner than you think: the Pre-1914 UK Productivity Slowdown was Victorian not Edwardian," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 24(4), pages 736-748.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:24:y:2020:i:4:p:736-748.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ereh/hez022
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