Technical Progress and British Enterprise, 1875–1914

Several attempts have now been made to chart and explain the retardation in British growth rates in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Statistics relating to the growth of national income, exports and industrial productivity all show a distinct tendency to decelerate in this period. The growth rates in this country compare unfavourably with those registered abroad especially in America and Germany. Perhaps the most alarming feature was the lag in British manufacturing productivity; the rate of growth of output per worker fell continuously throughout this period.1To explain the poor performance of British growth indices the unprogressive nature of British entrepreneurs during the years in question has been sometimes cited. Much evidence has also been produced to show that British industrialists were technically far less dynamic than their major competitors. In particular, it has been alleged that they failed or were slow to adopt cost-reducing innovations or new methods of production and selling and that they were reluctant to acknowledge the value of technical education and scientific research.2 How far these deficiencies were responsible for the lag in British growth rates is difficult to determine Obviously there is a strong connection between the two since technical progress (in the widest sense of the term) is, in the long run, one of the main determinants of growth.