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ECONOMY - Coggle Diagram
ECONOMY
STAPLE INDUSTRIES:
- In 1913, British industry remained focused on the staple industries which had been the basis of its industrial revolution and which had made Britain so economically successful.
- 'STAPLES' (60% of exports in 1913) = textile industries , steel industry , coal and shipbuilding.
- MAIN STAPLE INDUSTRY AREAS: coal mines in south Wales, northern England and Scotland.
- Britain = first country to have an industrial revolution, and this had allowed it to lead the way in these industries throughout the 19th century à Britain emerged as the key shipbuilding nation after 1870 and retained this position until World War II. It still owned half the world's shipping before 1914.
- Despite international competition from GER + USA, BRITISH OUTPUT OF IRON+COAL continued to increase. Also GER+USA had better access to raw materials + larger home markets. Britain produced 287 million tons of coal in 1913, compared to 100 mill in 1870.
- Cotton trade = strong British export trade + counted for over 25% of BR exports before WW2.
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AGRICULTURE:
- In 1850 , just under 2M people were working in agriculture , by 1901 it had fallen to under 1.4M , partly because of mechanisation and because the British were eating more food imported from overseas
- Overall , farming accounted for about 10 % of employment , national income and national investment in the years 1906-14
- Most British land was in large estates but most of these were let out to tenant farmers who then paid rent and gained a profit by selling what they produced. they in turn employed agricultural labourers.
- farming transferred from wheat to dairy/beef as wheat was vulnerable from overseas competition
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NEW INDUSTRIES:
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- chemical, motorworks, light industries, electricity emerged after 1906.
- expanding faster and faster with growth rate of 3.8% a year
EXTERNAL COMPETITION:
1870 and 1914 - LATE VICTORIAN RECESSION WHERE During BR was overtaken by GER and the USA in iron and steel output .
BR rate of industrial growth was less than that of the USA and its share of the worlds exports declined. --> Imports also grew faster than exports leading to a ' trade gap '
RAISED Q to industrialists concerning BR education, free trade policy, industrial failures to adapt to new tech + modern ways of working
KEY ECONOMIC CONCERNS:
- Lack of research & investment : Britain's industrial lead had been based on cheap textiles , especially cotton and providing iron and steel to build the railways , steamships and machinery of the world . However, compared to America , Britain invested few resources into researching new methods of improving the production of these goods .
- Lack of progress in new industries : by 1906 , new industries based on more advanced science were becoming more important , and here Germany and the USA also took the lead. For instance , the German chemical industry was 2X the British chemical industry by 1913 , even though total industrial output was only slightly greater
- LOW WAGE economy : there were other ways in which America in particular was more progressive than Britain. The Americans produced a high wage economy where workers were paid enough to buy goods they produced
- ISSUE OF FREE TRADE: the competition that Britain now faced in world trade raised Q abt free trade policy. GER + USA used tariffs to keep their domesticmarkets free from competition whereas BR held to policy of FREE TRADE = FREE EXCHANGE OF GOODS BETWEEN COUNTRIES. ARO, foreign traders had easy access to British markets.
- LACK OF EDUCATION : concerns over Britain's economic decline also led to fear that British workers were not learning sufficient skills in schools and that Britain was not producing enough qualified inventors designers and technicians
- Problems in agriculture: in the late 19th century British farmers suffered the shock of foreign competition. Steamships and railways meant that grain from North American prairies were sold cheaper than many British farmers could produce it