Economic history knowledge test 1870 -1914 Flashcards
(33 cards)
how did historians differ in their account of the economic history of 1870 1914 and from British observers of the time
then : great depression
now : by changes in the world economy
- by problems in the domestic economy
identify 2 reasons apart form the great depression that explain the economic problems and anxiety experienced by the British economy in the years 1870 to 1914
- changes in the world economy
- problems in the domestic economy.
What word is appropriate to describe the start of industrial decline?
Incipient and relative decline
- relative to Britain’s past domination and to foreign competition.
What percentage of the world’s ships were British built in 1892 and 1911?
80% & 60% respectively.
What was GB’s and Germany’s percentage share of global manufacturing output in 1880 and in 1913?
GB: 23% and 14%; Germany: 8.5% and 15%.
Identify the statistical data for the British industry with the largest percentage of exports in 1881-1890 and in 1910-1913.
Textiles: 41% and 32% of British exports.
What percentage of the British economy was held by manufacturing and what data can be used to illustrate the expansion of manufacturing by 1914?
- 25% of British output
- 30% more workers employed in 1900 compared to 1870.
Given that the British economy was the first in the world, why was it unsurprising that British industrial exports would decline?
Other nations industrialised = reduction in demand for British exports and newly industrialised nations successfully competed with GB’s industry additionally reducing demand for British products.
Explain what ‘workshop of the world’ means in terms of production and exports?
- Workshop = staple industries;
- world = market for British exports of staples.
Identify four problems in the British economy in the period 1870-1914.
- Family-firm
- productivity
- technical and scientific failure
- growing divergence in interests between industry and the City.
How did the production and organisation of industrial production in GB differ from Germany and the USA?
Germany &USA:
- multi-unit firms
- greater productivity
- bigger markets
- in USA, huge supply of unskilled labour
- strengthened by use of automation and assembly-line production.
Identify 4 problems inhibiting British productivity.
- Poor management and limited mechanisation
- insufficient capital investment
- higher levels of unionisation than competitors
- lack of scientific innovation, especially relative too competitors.
As a percentage, identify how much more capital intensive the USA was compared to GB.
90%.
What did the cotton and coal industries each fail to invest in?
- Automated ring spinning
- mechanical extraction of coal.
What do registered patents tell us about the competiveness of Germany relative to GB?
Patents = scientific & technical innovation; USA and Germany dominated new method inventions; Germany overtook GB in patents.
Use a maximum of three pieces of statistical data to illustrate British educational weakness in chemistry.
- 1870: only 19 new graduates in stem subjects in England
- Oxford & Camb. Did not offer degrees in stem subjects
- 1872: University of Munich produced more chemistry graduates than all of England.
How much GNP did (i) the USA and (ii) Germany invest at home compared to (iii) GB?
- USA & Germany invested 12% of GNP at home
- compared to 6% of British GNP
Which part of the economy is associated with (i) invisible earnings and (ii) visible earnings?
Staples & manufacturing versus investments, banking, insurance and shares (financial services).
What economic calculation is used to measure the relationship of imports and exports?
Balance of payments.
Identify the sector of the economy which benefited from the growth in invisible earning.
City of London
What did the growth in invisible earnings hide?
Growing deficit in visible earnings.
What type of farmer was effectively destroyed by the combination of free trade and foreign competition?
Arable (cereals) farmer.
Using prices, high farming and foreign competition explain why this type of farming effectively ended.
- Price of grain fell by one third between 1974 and 1914;
- high farming failed to increase yield of acreage dedicated to arable
- between 1900 1914 only 25% of wheat consumed in GB came from domestic farmers (wheat was consumed by 95% of the British population).
What percentage of wheat came from domestic farmers between 1900 and 1914?
25%
