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The Great Depression in Britain, 1873–1896: a Reappraisal*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2011

A. E. Musson
Affiliation:
University of Manchester

Extract

It is nearly a quarter century since H. L. Beales produced his notable article on “The Great Depression.” Since then a great deal of work has been done on that period, especially by economists and statisticians, so that it is now possible to make a fuller assessment of the changes in Britain's economic position during those years. Most of this work has been in the form of specialized articles and books covering longer periods, on such subjects as national income, investment, or terms of trade, and there appears to be a need for some attempt at synthesis, especially as the various interpretations put forward are not always in agreement and are sometimes contradictory. It would be impossible, of course, in a mere article, to settle all the theoretical problems suggested by the facts or to resolve all the divergencies of opinion, but it is worth while to draw the evidence and opinions together in an effort to get a general picture.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1959

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References

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42 [Hilgerdt, Folke], Industrialization and Foreign Trade (League of Nations, 1945), p. 132Google Scholar, and , Lewis, Economic Survey, p. 74Google Scholar.

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45 Gordon, D. F., “Obsolescence and Technical Change: Comment,” Am. Ec. Rev., XLVI (1956), 650Google Scholar.

46 , Clapham, Economic History, II, 122Google Scholar. There is a very good brief discussion of the causes of Britain's relative decline in the article by W. A. Lewis, “International Competition,” cited above (n. 41).

47 Burn, Economic History of Steelmaking, ch. ix.

48 This view has recently been re-emphasized by Frankel, M., “Obsolescence and Technical Change in a Maturing Economy,” Am. Ec. Rev., XLV (1955), 296319Google Scholar, and XLVI (1956), 652-56.

49 , Gordon, “Obsolescence,” Am. Ec. Rev., XLVI (1956), 646–52Google Scholar.

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52 Memoranda (1903), pp. 295359Google Scholar, and Memoranda (1904), pp. 407–28Google Scholar.

53 , Lewis, “International Competition,” pp. 585–87Google Scholar. Cf. , Clapham, Economic History, III, 5253Google Scholar, referring to the great capital export boom after 1905. Rostow, on the other hand, suggests that there was too little foreign investment during the Great Depression. See pp. 215-22 of this article.

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75 Thomas, B., Migration and Economic Growth (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1954), p. 122Google Scholar, notes that Britain, after “first sowing the seed in the form of capital exports,” was now “reaping the harvest in imports.”

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78 Comparisons of home and overseas investment are to be found in the works by Douglas, Lenfant, Cairncross, and Thomas, previously cited (nn. 51, 55, 56, 75).

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82 Imlah's figures.

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94 Cf. the effects of cost-reducing mechanization in British industry in the first half of the nineteenth century. The net barter terms of trade deteriorated, but so great was die increase in output and trade that Britain gained considerably. Ashton, T. S., “The Standard of Life of the Workers in England, 1790-1830,” The Journal of Economic History, IX (1949), Supplement, 1938CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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98 , Lewis, Economic Survey, p. 74Google Scholar.

99 This was true even of industrial Britain by the end of this period. Hirschman, A. O., “The Commodity Structure of World Trade,” Q. f. E., LVII (1943), 565–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

100 Industrialization and Foreign Trade, pp. 14-18 and 157.

101 ibid., p. 16.

102 ibid., pp. 132 and 157.

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104 , Cairncross, Home and Foreign Investment, pp. 190-92Google Scholar.

105 This view-that foreign investment determines the terms and quantity of foreign trade, rather than vice versa-is supported by , Taussig, “Britain's Foreign Trade Terms,” Ec. J., XXXV (1925), 7Google Scholar; , Schumpeter, Business Cycles, II, 668Google Scholar; , Clark, Conditions of Economic Progress, pp. 15Google Scholar and 466. See also , Rostow, “Historical Analysis,” Ec. H. R., 2d ser., IV (1951-1952), 6367Google Scholar.

106 See p. 217 of this article.

107 , Lewis and , O'Leary, “Secular Swings,” Manchester School, XXIII (1955), 145Google Scholar.

108 Ibid.

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110 Industrialization and Foreign Trade, p. 157.

111 ibid., pp. 158-63. See also Memoranda (1903), pp. 7-9, 374-79, 476-91.

112 See p. 223 of this article.

113 Cunningham, W., The Rise and Decline of the Free Trade Movement (London: Clay, 1904), pp. 8592Google Scholar. For other works on the growth of foreign competition and protection, see p. 227 of this article.

114 Annual Statements of Trade, Statistical Abstracts, Memoranda (1903), Memoranda (1904). These have been analyzed by Schlote, British Overseas Trade.

115 Memoranda (1903), pp. 18-19. Most European countries, the United States, and Canada were listed as protectionist.

116 ibid., pp. 13-27.

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118 Statistical Abstracts.

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122 Lewis points out that “Britain equipped herself in the first half of the nineteenth century to sell cotton and railway materials, and she thus got into a rut which unfitted her to sell steel and machinery at the end of the century.” International Competition,” Am. Ec. Rev., XLVII (1957). 583Google Scholar. This is an oversimplified exaggeration, but contains a substantial element of truth..

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124 Memoranda (1903), pp. 368 and 446-47.

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128 Memoranda (1904), pp. 437–38Google Scholar; , Clark, Conditions of Economic Progress, pp. 185Google Scholar, 187, and 190.

129 The most important contemporary evidence is contained in the reports of the Royal Commissions on agriculture, 1882 and 1894-97, and in the Royal Agricultural Society's Journal. For general accounts of agriculture in this period, see Ernie, Lord, English Farming, Past and Present (4th ed.; London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1927)Google Scholar, ch. xviii, and , Clapham, Economic History, II, ch. vii; III, ch. iiGoogle Scholar.

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131 Drescher, L ., “The Development of Agricultural Production in Great Britain and Ireland from the early Nineteenth Century,” Manchester School, XXIII (1955), 175Google Scholar; , Ojala, Agriculture and Economic Progress, p. 210Google Scholar.

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135 R. C. on Depression, Final Report (1886), pp. xvii and xixGoogle Scholar.

136 Memoranda (1903), pp. 56Google Scholar. See also , Schlote, British Overseas Trade, pp. 6668Google Scholar.

137 See, for example, Medley, G. W., The Reciprocity Craze (Cobden Club pamphlet; London, 1881)Google Scholar; Farrer, T. H., Free Trade Versus Fair Trade (London, 1885)Google Scholar; Williams, E. E., Made in Germany (London, 1896)Google Scholar. Later historical studies include Cunningham, Rise and Decline of the Free Trade Movement; Fuchs, C. J., Trade Policy of Great Britain and Her Colonies Since 1860 (London: Macmillan, 1905)Google Scholar; Ashley, P., Modern Tariff History (3d ed.; London: Murray, 1920)Google Scholar; Hoffman, R. J. S., Great Britain and the German Trade Rivalry, 1875-1914 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1933)Google Scholar; Brown, B. H., The Tariff Reform Movement in Great Britain, 1881-1895 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1943)Google Scholar.

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139 Memoranda (1903), pp. 417-18 and 427-30.