CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 144Historical Economic and Social StudiesEconomic Theory and PolicyEconomic Development and Digital Transformation

The DOI matches its Crossref record.

The lure of aggregates and the pitfalls of the patriarchal perspective: a critique of the high wage economy interpretation of the British industrial revolution

Humphries, Jane·2013·The Economic History Review
DOI 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2012.00663.x
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

The new meta‐narrative of the industrial revolution contends that B ritain was a high wage economy and that this itself caused industrialization. Contemporary inventions, although derived from scientific discoveries shared with mainland E urope, could only be profitable in the context of B ritain's factor prices. Therefore, important inventions were only developed in B ritain where they enabled access to a growth path that transcended trajectories associated with more labour‐intensive production methods. The criticism presented here concerns perspective and methodology. The account of the high wage economy is misleading because it focuses on men and male wages, underestimates the relative caloric needs of women and children, and bases its view of living standards on an ahistorical and false household economy. A more accurate picture of the structure and functioning of working‐class households provides an alternative explanation of inventive and innovative activity in terms of the availability of cheap and amenable female and child labour and thereby offers a broader interpretation of the industrial revolution.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2012.00663.x

Cites

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The upland North and West had ample supplies of cheap and amenable female and child labour that became a vital input into the Industrial Revolution, and a fairly well-nourished population for heavy physical labour.

    “As well as fast flowing streams to provide water power they had ample supplies of”

    From The Mechanics of the Industrial Revolution (2023) · cites this paper as Humphries, 2013

Citations

Cites

No references could be resolved yet.

Research works printed but not linked: 88

  1. 10.1006/exeh.2001.0775 · DOI
  2. 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2003.00257.x · DOI
  3. 10.1017/CBO9780511816680 · DOI
  4. 10.1016/j.eeh.2009.04.004 · DOI
  5. 10.1093/actrade/9780199596652.001.0001 · DOI
  6. 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2010.00532.x · DOI
  7. 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2010.00566.x · DOI
  8. Anderson M., 1990, The Cambridge social history of Britain 1750–1950, II: People and their environment, 1
  9. 10.1017/CBO9780511495670 · DOI
  10. Berg M., 1988, British trade unionism 1750–1850: the formative years, 52
  11. Berg M., 1994, The age of manufactures, 1700–1820. Industry, innovation and work in Britain
  12. Berg M., 2005, Luxury and pleasure in eighteenth‐century Britain
  13. 10.2307/2598327 · DOI · Paper page
  14. 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2008.00438.x · DOI
  15. 10.1111/1467-9884.00270 · DOI
  16. 10.1111/1468-0289.00200 · DOI
  17. Dandekar V. M., 1982, On measurement of undernutrition, Economic and Political Weekly, 203
  18. Dasgupta P., 1993, An inquiry into well‐being and destitution
  19. Dasgupta P., 1990, The political economy of hunger, 191
  20. David P. A., 1975, Technical choice, innovation, and economic growth: essay on American and British experience in the nineteenth century
  21. Deane P. M., 1965, The first industrial revolution
  22. Eden F. M., 1928, A history of the labouring classes in England, with parochial reports
  23. Emmison F. G. ‘The relief of the poor at Eaton Socon 1706–1834’ Miscellanea(Bedfordshire Historical Rec. Soc. 15 1933) pp.14–119. · DOI
  24. FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), 2004, Human energy requirements
  25. 10.1017/S0022050700021100 · DOI
  26. 10.1017/CBO9780511975912 · DOI
  27. Gopalan C., 1992, Nutrition and poverty, 17
  28. 10.1017/S0022050700011943 · DOI
  29. H____ B., 1861, Autobiography of a navvy, Macmillans Magazine, 5, 140
  30. Habakkuk H. J., 1962, American and British technology in the nineteenth century
  31. 10.1016/S0363-3268(08)26003-9 · DOI
  32. Holman J. R., 1975, Orphans in pre‐industrial towns—the case of Bristol in the late seventeenth century, Local Population Studies, 15, 40
  33. Holyoake G. J., 1906, Sixty years of an agitator's life
  34. Honeyman K., 2007, Child workers in England, 1780–1820: parish apprentices and the making of the early industrial labour force
  35. 10.1017/S0022050700011931 · DOI · Paper page
  36. 10.1016/j.eeh.2007.12.001 · DOI
  37. 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00511_7.x · DOI
  38. 10.1093/oxfordjournals.cje.a035183 · DOI
  39. 10.3828/lhr.63.1.31 · DOI
  40. 10.1017/CBO9780511780455 · DOI
  41. Kent D. A., 1990, “Gone for a soldier”: family breakdown and the demography of desertion in a London parish, 1750–91, Local Population Studies, 45, 27
  42. King S., 2000, Poverty and welfare in England, 1700–1850. A regional perspective
  43. 10.1007/978-0-230-80249-0 · DOI
  44. Lansbury G., 1928, My life
  45. Laslett P., 1974, Parental deprivation in the past: a note on the history of orphans in England, Local Population Studies, 13, 11
  46. 10.1017/CBO9780511561207 · DOI
  47. Lees L. H., 1998, The solidarities of strangers. The English poor laws and the people, 1700–1948
  48. 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00485.x · DOI
  49. Lindert P. H., 1983, English workers' living standards during the industrial revolution: a new look, Economic History Review, 1
  50. 10.1017/CBO9780511522673 · DOI
  51. 10.1017/S0145553200013341 · DOI
  52. Mehta J., 1982, Nutritional norms and measurement of malnourishment and poverty, Economic and Political Weekly, 1332
  53. Mokyr J., 1990, The lever of riches: technological creativity and economic progress
  54. Mokyr J., 2011, The enlightened economy: Britain and the industrial revolution 1700–1850
  55. 10.1017/CBO9780511933905 · DOI
  56. 10.2307/2598255 · DOI
  57. Osmani S. R., 1992, Nutrition and poverty, 121
  58. Osmani S. R., 1992, Nutrition and poverty
  59. 10.1016/S1570-677X(02)00006-0 · DOI
  60. Outhwaite R. B., 1981, Marriage and society: studies in the social history of marriage, 1
  61. Payne P., 1992, Nutrition and poverty, 45
  62. 10.2307/2060423 · DOI
  63. Randall A., 1991, Before the Luddites: custom, community and machinery in the English woollen industry 1776–1809
  64. Seccombe W., 1993, Weathering the storm. Working‐class families from the industrial revolution to the fertility decline
  65. Seckler D., 1982, Newer concepts in nutrition and their implications for policy, 139
  66. Seckler D., 1982, Newer concepts in nutrition and their implications for policy, 127
  67. Sharpe P., 1990, Marital separation in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Local Population Studies, 45, 66
  68. 10.2307/2597484 · DOI
  69. Smith J. E., 1993, New methods in historical demography, 280
  70. 10.1017/CBO9780511599446 · DOI
  71. 10.1017/CBO9780511496059 · DOI
  72. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199549962.001.0001 · DOI
  73. Srinivasan T. N., 1992, Nutrition and poverty, 97
  74. 10.1111/j.2397-2335.1920.tb00628.x · DOI
  75. Stone L., 1977, The family, sex and marriage in England, 1500–1800
  76. Sukhatme P. V., 1982, Measurement of undernutrition, Economic and Political Weekly, 17, 2000
  77. Sukhatme P. V., 1982, Newer concepts in nutrition and their implications for policy
  78. Sukhatme P. V., 1982, Newer concepts in nutrition and their implications for policy, 11
  79. Taylor G., 1969, The problem of poverty, 1660–1834
  80. Vincent D., 1981, Bread, knowledge and freedom: a study of nineteenth‐century working class autobiography
  81. Waterlow J. C., 1990, Diet and disease in traditional and developing countries, 5
  82. Watts S., 1984, Demographic facts as experienced by a group of families in eighteenth‐century Shifnal, Shropshire, Local Population Studies, 32, 34
  83. 10.1017/S0022050700031351 · DOI
  84. 10.1007/BF01796917 · DOI
  85. 10.1017/CBO9780511616365 · DOI
  86. 10.1017/CBO9780511779619 · DOI · Paper page
  87. 10.1017/CBO9780511660344 · DOI
  88. Wrigley E. A., 1981, The population history of England 1541–1871: a reconstruction

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Metadata

Authors
Humphries, J.
Affiliations
University of Oxford (GB)
Corresponding author
Humphries, Jane
ORCID
Humphries, Jane
Venue
The Economic History Review
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2012-08-09
Volume
66
Issue
3
Pages
693-714
ISSN
  • 0013-0117 (ISSN-L)
  • 1468-0289
DOI
10.1111/j.1468-0289.2012.00663.x
OpenAlex
W2096879666
Cited by
144
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 4
FWCI
23.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • The Economic History Review (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/H003940/1)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Historical Economic and Social Studies
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › General Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economic Theory and Policy
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › General Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economic Development and Digital Transformation
Keywords
British Industrial Revolution, high-wage economy, working-class families, women's employment, child labor, caloric needs, living standards, household economy, industrialization, factor prices, gender and history

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review