We can say that the Industrial revolution was revolutionary for Britain because the wage-rent ratios rose during this period even with an increasing population, the workers starting becoming richer and the food started becoming cheaper. Why was it that the food became cheaper? This was due to the intercontinental trade that was taking place.
Prior to the structural break, the real wages and per capita output were stagnant and there was a decline in the wage-land rent ratio implying rising inequality. This trend was in accordance with the Malthusian theory which was said that higher the population and lower the wage. A decline in land-labor ratios would lead to a fall in the wage-rent ratio. From 1500-1700 this trend was dominant, the rising population at this time which was pushing down the wage-rent ratio. This population pressure placed on the land was the reason behind the falling wage-rent ratio, this is consistent with Malthusian theory. If this relationship between wage-rent and land-labor would have sustained then the wages would have kept falling but as we all know that was not the case
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Without intercontinental trade it would have been impossible to have this impact on the factor prices. There was an expansion of trade because of outward shift of demand and supply. After 1840 the British commodity prices began to be exogenous to the British economy and the wage-rental ratios were no longer driven by land-labor ratios. They were now driven by trade and industrial revolution. The traditional links between relative commodity prices and endowments were already breaking down during the 18th century. This structural break which started in second quarter of the 19th century reached its peak in