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Market‐Supporting Institutions, Gild Organisations, and the Industrial Revolution: A Comparative View
Author(s) -
Tan Li
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
australian economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.493
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1467-8446
pISSN - 0004-8992
DOI - 10.1111/aehr.12013
Subject(s) - industrial revolution , business , market economy , industrial organization , economic system , commerce , economics , political science , law
This article investigates the conditions for the emergence of the agents of the I ndustrial R evolution by comparing the market‐supporting institutions in pre‐modern E ngland and C hina. Market‐supporting institutions in pre‐modern E ngland supported group mobility and expansion of laws, which permitted the forthcoming of new entrepreneurs critical for launching industrial ventures. By contrast, market‐supporting institutions in pre‐modern C hina, although supporting individual mobility, led to stable social stratification and stagnancy in law development, which did not provide appropriate conditions for the emergence of industrial entrepreneurs.