Britain’s Industrial Performance 1850–1950: a Failure to Adjust

Britain’s relative economic decline has a longer history than is often assumed by contemporary observers. This chapter sketches the main features of Britain’s industrial performance between 1850 and 1950, and considers explanations for the decline of economic power over this period offered by certain economic historians. It will be argued that the difficulties Britain has encountered since the Second World War stem in large part from a longstanding failure to adjust to the spread of industrialisation and the emergence of new forms of production.