Understanding the Constraints of the Industrial Revolution

Constraints of the Industrial Revolution (1760-1830): These constraints are not only economic but also political and social. For the Industrial Revolution to occur, it was necessary for improvements to take place in agricultural and industrial production, market and political structures, and transformations that primarily happened in Britain. Apart from these constraints, it must be noted that Britain had several natural advantages, such as being an island, which reduced defense spending on continental countries, having relatively flat terrain, and numerous navigable rivers, which facilitated easy transport. Even more important was the mineral wealth in coal and iron.

The main factor was the agrarian transformation. The ability of British agriculture to feed a growing population, surpassing the Malthusian ceiling, allowed labor and capital to move to cities and industries, facilitating industrial growth. By the late eighteenth century, Britain was the only country able to maintain half of its labor force outside the agricultural sector, thanks to the productivity of its agriculture.

Another important factor was the manufacturing tradition. Great Britain was an early industrialized country due to the provision of rural industry. Rural industry broke away from the rules and restrictions of unions and led to an accumulation of skilled and business-savvy production techniques and markets eager to improve technology and apply innovation to increase profits.

The prior existence of a market allowed for the sale of larger quantities of goods at lower prices. The high degree of urbanization in Great Britain increased the working population. Foreign trade and colonies represented an extension of domestic trade. Colonies were an important source of raw materials and a manufacturing market.

Trade was a crucial element of pre-industrialization, and once it started, the cause-effect relationship between trade and industry became evident. Finally, another condition was the state: the organization and economic policy of the state could either help or hinder the process of industrialization. In Great Britain, the state organization was different and more modern than that of competing countries, with better specification of property rights and the elimination of regulations on economic activity. All of this contributed to the UK market being closer to a free market.