The Industrial Revolution brought radical changes in nineteenth century England and in the western world. It is the substitution of competition for the mediaeval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth. It led to growth of two systems of thought:  Economic science  and socialism. The chief landmarks were four English economists: Malthus, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill and Ricardo. The most important facts of the Industrial Revolution were the rapid growth of population and the decline in the agricultural population.

The causes of the decrease in rural population were the common-fields system of cultivation, the enclosures of common and waste lands and the consolidation of small farms into large ones.

The  agricultural advance was due to different causes that contributed to the decrease in rural population like the breed of cattle, the rotation of crops and the steam-plough, which all together brought to the birth of agricultural societies.

A growth of industry was recorded due to new mechanical inventions in textile industry like the spinning jenny, the water-frame, Crompton’s mule and the self-acting mule. The most important inventions were the steam engine and the power-loom. In addition, it was an expansion in the means of communication: were invented the canal system, the turnpike and the railroad. These things together brought to the increase of commerce and to the substitution of factory system for domestic system.

In agriculture, the prominent fact is an enormous rise in rents caused by the money invested in improvements, the enclosures system, and the consolidation of farms and the high price of corn.

There were also many social changes in country life: the new class of great capitalist employers made enormous fortunes. There were some consequences like the old relation between masters and man disappeared, a “cash nexus” was substituted for the human tie, and the class conflict.

The conditions of the labours under the factory system, the high price of bread and the sudden fluctuation of trade brought the misery of the working people.                                                                                                                            

In conclusion we can say the competition may produce wealth without producing well-being.