This book is a reassessment of British performance in manufacturing since 1850 in the light of new evidence on international comparisons of productivity. It analyzes productivity levels in Britain, the United States and Germany and provides detailed case studies of all the major manufacturing industries over the past century and a half. Stephen Broadberry uncovers new ways of looking at Britain's relative economic decline while debunking a number of misapprehensions regarding the nature and causes of the decline.

This book examines the insights that Keynesian macroeconomics offers into the economic history of the prewar British economy. It adopts a modern economic approach to issues such as unemployment, the price level and exchange rates in the period 1870-1939, making use of the latest advances in time series analysis and macroeconomics. In addition to being of interest to economic historians, it is relevant to economists concerned with current policy issues, since it shows how far correct policy choices depend on particular historical circumstances. This book examines the insights that Keynesian...