Ed Dodson responding... Chirag Kasbekar wrote: > An American political philosopher friend of mine was wondering how market > practices and institutions would have been affected had economic, cultural > and political conditions been slightly different during the Industrial > Revolution in Britain. For example, he speculates that the factory structure > would have been less authoritarian had labour been more scarce and more > dear. Any thoughts? Ed Dodson here: When the supply of labor is scarce relative to demand, wages tend to increase. In Britain, factory owners imported labor from Ireland to prevent labor from effectively organizing and to keep wages down to subsistence levels. Nothing to mysterious about that. Britain also had the unique policy of sending off its most dissident dissidents to places like Australia and New Zealand. > > > Also, a question: How vital was the economic exploitation of its colonies > (esp. India) to the growth and development of British capitalism? Some > people seem to believe it was extremely vital. Some that the British economy > was already well-developed by the time the exploitation took effect. Ed Dodson here: The question is, "vital to whom?" The costs of maintaining an imperial empire are clearly far greater than any aggregate financial gains that accrue to the general citizenry. The financial benefits are attached to monopoly licenses granted by government to certain individuals or entities. > > > Any thoughts? Are there any good books/articles on these subjects? > > Chirag Kasbekar > MA (economics), University of Mumbai (Bombay), India > > _________________________________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. > > Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at > http://profiles.msn.com.
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