Home / Summaries / Early Modern History / industrial-revolution-rural

The Early Modern Economy - Assessment

4 important questions on The Early Modern Economy - Assessment

Why is it tempting to describe the European economy in 1720 as 'pre-industrial'?

Most regions of Europe were rural, dominated by aristocratic rentiers and characterized by a manufacturing sector rooted in small-scale artisanal production, with generally low productivity and little market integration.

Why is better to call it an 'early industrial' economy?

There had been several key changes during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries - population growth, urbanization, agricultural innovation, agrarian change, rural (proto-)industrialization, proletarianization, changing patterns of consumption - which might justify the label of an 'early industrial' economy.

What did the industrial revolution bring?

By 1800, the European economy was on the brink of a major set of transformations, conventionally referred to as the industrial revolution, which would bring large-scale mechanization, factory production, a radically new transport infrastructure and novel forms of labour relations.

What two key phases can be identified in which the mid-seventeenth century was the turning point?

Two key phases can be identified, with the mid-seventeenth century the turning point between a period of rising demand and increasing gross output and one of stagnating demand and increasing labour productivity.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Early Modern History

View summary