ization would be primarily of historical interest. It would be simply a matter of seeking to understand an important episode in the past. But, in fact, about three quarters of the world's people live in a state of persistant underdevelopment and consequent mass poverty. This makes the question of development economics one of the most pressing issues of the contemporary world. Thus we tend to look at the Industrial Revolution in Britain not only to understand the past, but to seek guidance for the present. Is the key to economic "take off" in an underdeveloped country to be found in exports, or in development of a domestic market? The familiar example of Japan and other East Asian newly industrialized economies seems outwardly to favor the export theory. One can drive down any American street and see Toyotas and Hyundais as physical testimony of the power of exports to fuel economic growth. But the real driving force of industrialization may be more complex, for these exports depend on already developed markets abroad, something which in most (but not all) respects was not available to eighteenth century Britain, and which may not be available to the increasing number of emerging countries seeking to accelerate their own economic development.
In the early eighteenth century, Britain was by modern ________
standards most certainly an "underdeveloped" country, even when making allowance for the fact that so many goods and services
which we take for granted did not yet exist. Britain was underdeveloped in the sense that the great bulk of the population lived on the land, engaged in what was still largely subsistance agriculture. In income structure, the population was divided between a wealthy elite, mainly though not exclusively landowners, and a mass of people who lived only slightly above the subsistance level. By the end of the century, industrialization was spreading rapidly, and by 1830 the spread of factori...