The essence of the Industrial Revolution is the substitution of competition for the mediaeval regulations.

It contributed to the growth of two systems of thought: Economic Science and Socialism.

Economic science developed thanks to four English economists: Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo and Stuart Mill.

The main facts of the Industrial Revolution are the growth of the population and the decline in agricultural population.

An agrarian revolution caused a decrease in the rural population because of: the destructionof common-field system of cultivation; the enclosure of common and waste lands; the consolidation of small farms into large.

The period was one of great agricultural advance: the breed of cattle was improved, rotation of crops was introduced, the steam-plough was invented, agricultural societies were instituted.

Also in manufactures there were mechanical discoveries: the spinning-genny, the water-frame, Crompton’s mule and self-acting mule. But what had revolutionised industry were the stem-engine and the power-loom. Meanwhile, the iron industry had been revolutionised by the invention of smelting by pit-coal.

Factory system had a further growth and independent machines took space, thanks to the expansion of trade. The canal system was being rapidly developed, roads were improved and even the first railroad was opened. As a consequence there were periods of over-production and inflation.

The effects of the Industrial Revolution prove that free competition may produce wealth without producing well-being.