Industrialization and Regional Inequality: Wages in Britain, 1760–1914

This paper describes the geographical pattern of wages in Britain between 1760 and 1914. It then draws out some of the implications of the wages pattern and considers, in particular, the implications for the “growth pole” debate on the likely effect of industrialization upon regional income inequalities. The market forces responsible for creating and maintaining these differentials are then described, followed by a final section which discsusses the significance of changing regional wage differentials to the standar-of-living debate. It concludes that from a regional perspective the overall effects of industrialization upon living standards are indisputably favorable.

[1]  Peter H. Lindert,et al.  English Workers’Living Standards During the Industrial Revolution: A New Look* , 1983 .

[2]  R. Malcolmson,et al.  British Labour History 1815-1914 , 1981 .

[3]  Paul Bairoch,et al.  Disparities in Economic Development Since the Industrial Revolution , 1981 .

[4]  C. Lawrence.  The state of the Scottish working class in 1843 , 1981, Medical History.

[5]  James F. Shepherd,et al.  Regional differences in real wages: The United States, 1851–1880 , 1976 .

[6]  W. A. Cole,et al.  Regional Wage Variations in Britain, 1850-1914. , 1975 .

[7]  Michael Hechter.  Regional Inequality and National Integration: The Case of the British Isles , 1971 .

[8]  V. Morgan.  Agricultural Wage Rates in late Eighteenth-Century Scotland , 1971 .

[9]  Horst Siebert,et al.  Regional Economic Growth: Theory and Policy.@@@The Element of Space in Development Planning.@@@Regional Economics: Location Theory, Urban Structure and Regional Change. , 1971 .

[10]  E. Hunt.  Labour Productivity in English Agriculture, 1850–1914 , 1967 .

[11]  R. H. Campbell,et al.  An Economic History of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century.@@@Scotland Since 1707. , 1965 .

[12]  E. P. Thompson,et al.  The Making of the English Working Class. , 1965 .

[13]  J. Williamson.  Regional Inequality and the Process of National Development: A Description of the Patterns , 1965, Economic Development and Cultural Change.

[14]  D. C. Coleman.  Growth and decay during the industrial revolution: The case of East Anglia , 1962 .

[15]  G. Myrdal.  Economic theory and under-developed regions , 1960 .

[16]  Elizabeth Gilboy,et al.  Wages in Eighteenth-Century England. , 1935 .

[17]  A. L. Bowley.  III.—The Statistics of Wages in the United Kingdom During the Last Hundred Years. (Part I.) Agricultural Wages , 1898 .

[18]  N. Crafts.  Regional price variations in England in 1843: An aspect of the standard-of-living debate☆ , 1982 .

[19]  T. C. Smout.  A history of the Scottish people, 1560-1830, , 1970 .