Introduction
The British government safeguarded private property rights, which meant that displaced handicraft workers could not attack the new factories. It did not restrict salaries or pricing, allowing new business owners to manage their labor costs as they saw appropriate. It had gotten rid of guild rules that impeded innovation even before the late 18th century. It had a nationwide free market with no tariff barriers within the country. The British government provided a wide range of opportunities for entrepreneurs, which pushed Industrialization forward.
Main body
The courts and judicial system were sensitive to merchants’ business tactics. The UK did not suffer arbitrary or confiscatory taxes because it had a representative government that represented property owners, and the government’s spending was maintained in proportion to taxable resources (Griffin, 2018). British government debt provides a safe haven for liquid cash while paying a low enough interest rate to avoid competing with more profitable investment possibilities. The United Kingdom had a private banking system that permitted companies to borrow short-term working capital based on inventory turnover and sale, and its legal structure safeguarded long-term loans based on real estate security (Griffin, 2018). It is also worth noting that there was a bond market and the beginnings of a stock exchange there.
Without sacrificing social prestige, the landowning nobility could engage in mining, trade, and constructing internal links via canals and turnpike roads. These factors made it feasible for inventive entrepreneurs to raise finance and invest in new business models, knowing that their earnings would not be taken and that their assets would be legally and physically protected (Mokyr, 2018). Except for the Netherlands, none were present in France or other continental nations, and the Netherlands lacked the UK’s natural resources of coal, iron, and lumber.
Summary
To summarize, the English established a free market economy throughout this period, with individual entrepreneurship and competition as the guiding principles, and achieved unparalleled levels of wealth and scientific progress. The English started to apply enlightenment concepts to their political and economic institutions, abandoning their old nobility in favor of a deep focus on the individual’s power to better society. The British economy grew unprecedentedly as more individuals from all classes began to start their businesses, ushering in Industrialization.
References
Griffin, E. (2018). A short history of the British Industrial Revolution (2nd ed.). Red Globe Press.
Mokyr, J. (2018). The British Industrial Revolution: An economic perspective (2nd ed.). Routledge.