THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The Industrial Revolution is the process which substituted competition for mediaeval regulation of production and distribution of wealth. It started in Britain in XIX century and it lasted many decades. It is important because it brought radical changes into the country and in western world.
One of the effects of the event is the growth of two currents of thought: Economic science and the opposite Socialism. The basis of the first one were especially given by four books of the period: Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (which is about causes of wealth), Malthus' Essay on population (about causes of poverty), Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (about the way wealth is distributed),Mill's Principles of Political Economy (about distinction between the laws of production and those of distribution).
It is important to mark that the last one was influenced by some ideas of the rival system.

But the Industrial Revolution also brought practical novelties, besides theoretical changes.
For example population grew and a lot of farmers moved to the cities, it follows that rural inhabitants decreased. Reasons of it are many: first of all the destruction of the common-field system of cultivation, secondly the institutions of enclosures and last but not least the consolidation of small farms into large.

All the facts just reported take part of a process that started before the Industrial Revolution, that is an agrarian revolution. It signed a new approach to agriculture: from an unscientific to a scientific one. The basic innovations were improvement of breed of cattle, rotations of crops, steam-plough and institution of agricultural societies. As a consequence production increased by one-fourth in only 10 years.

Also industrial production was revolutionized. Many inventions in textile industry were made and it follows that it increased very much. Examples of them are: Hargreaves' spinning jenny, Arkwright's water frame, Crompton's mule, Kelly's self-acting mule. But the most important were the steam engine (perfected by Watt ) and Cartwright's power loom. Iron industry changed and increased too, thanks to smelting by pit-coal and the application in 1788 of the steam-engine to blast furnaces.

Naturally increase of manufacturing goods implied a great growth of commerce. Therefore means of communications (such as canal system, turnpike roads and railroads)improved in order to let a better transport of them.

As a result of all these changes factory system substituted domestic system. Therefore production of wealth revolutionized: there was a rise in rents caused by: money invested in improvements, enclosure system, consolidation of farms and high price of corn (due to French war) and a social change: farmers were a cause of landlords' richness, employers became the new capitalists and labourers became a distinct class.

The relationship between masters and workers modified too. As a matter of fact employers did not work personally anymore and it follows that workmen were unknown to them. As a consequence a class conflict, a "cash nexus" and Trades-Union generated. The main reasons were precarious conditions of workers and misery caused by fall in wages, the rise of prices and fluctuations of trade.

All the things considered it is possible to conclude that the Industrial Revolution brought wealth, radical changes in commerce and innovations but it did not produce well-being.