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British Economic Growth and the Business Cycle, 1700-1870: Annual Estimates

Author

Listed:
  • Broadberry, Stephen

    (University of Warwick)

  • Van Leeuwen, Bas

    (University of Warwick)

Abstract

This paper provides the first annual GDP series for Great Britain over the period 1700-1870. The series is constructed in real terms from the output side, using volume indicators and value added weights. Sectoral estimates are provided for agriculture, industry and services, and for a number of sub-sectors. Estimates of nominal GDP are also provided, based on a benchmark for 1841 and projected back to 1700 and forward to 1870 using the real output series and sectoral price indices. The new data are used to provide a consistent account of economic growth and the business cycle. The results are broadly consistent with the long run path of real output suggested by Crafts and Harley, although growth rates for sub-periods differ, largely as a result of changes in the growth of agriculture. Nominal GDP increased more rapidly than suggested by Lindert and Williamson during the eighteenth century, and more slowly than suggested by Deane and Cole during the first half of the nineteenth century, as a result of differences in the price indices. We also refine the business cycle chronologies of Ashton and Gayer, Rostow and Schwartz.

Suggested Citation

  • Broadberry, Stephen & Van Leeuwen, Bas, 2010. "British Economic Growth and the Business Cycle, 1700-1870: Annual Estimates," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 20, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cge:wacage:20
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    File URL: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/manage/publications/20.2010_broadberry_complete.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Broadberry, Stephen & Campbell, Bruce & Klein, Alexander & Overton, Mark & Van Leeuwen, Bas, 2010. "English Economic Growth, 1270-1700," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 21, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    2. Radoslaw (Radek) Stefanski, 2014. "Dirty Little Secrets: Inferring Fossil-Fuel Subsidies from Patterns in Emission Intensities," OxCarre Working Papers 134, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford.
    3. Murrell, Peter, 2017. "Design and evolution in institutional development: The insignificance of the English Bill of Rights," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 36-55.
    4. Broadberry, Stephen & Gupta, Bishnu, 2010. "Indian GDP, 1600 -1870: Some Preliminary Estimates Comparison with Britain," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 07, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    5. Bottomley, Sean, 2014. "Patenting in England, Scotland and Ireland during the Industrial Revolution, 1700-1852," IAST Working Papers 14-07, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST).
    6. Broadberry, Stephen & Gupta, Bishnupriya, 2010. "Indian GDP Before 1870: Some Preliminary Estimates and a Comparison with Britain," CEPR Discussion Papers 8007, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Kevin O’Rourke & Ahmed Rahman & Alan Taylor, 2013. "Luddites, the industrial revolution, and the demographic transition," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 373-409, December.
    8. Alexandra M. de Pleijt, 2011. "The Role of Human Capital in the Process of Economic Development: The Case of England, 1307-1900," Working Papers 0021, Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History.

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