Original
Summary
The growth of cottage industry and the increased manufacturing activity that resulted, new trade opportunities in growing colonial markets, and the replacement of guild monopolies with the free-market force of competition, combined, greatly expanded the economy of Europe, pushing it to new heights during the eighteenth century.
This economic golden age was activated by an agricultural revolution beginning a century earlier, when new farming practices were introduced to great effect.The increased yields reduced the need for as many farmers to tend the fields and created a landless rural proletariat, which the merchant capitalists mobilized to produce textiles, clocks, and silverware, among other household goods.Although these peasant workers possessed little skill, their labor was cheap and abundant, and was made cost effective through the putting-out system, which had quickly become the dominant method of manufacturing.These trends continued throughout the eighteenth century, and along with them, significant increases in manufacturing productivity.
Eventually, with surpluses at hand, and during an era of colonization, European nations began exporting manufactured goods to their colonies.The developing consumer economies of the colonies supplemented existing demand for goods, and soon became vital consumers of European manufacturing.Britain best demonstrates the importance of the colonies by enacting the Navigation Acts, mercantilist policies aimed at increasing both the power of the state and wealth of merchants.These acts established Britain as the sole vendor of manufactured goods in a massive market that, by 1750, was buying half of the nails the country produced.
While overseas trade monopolies, like Britain’s, increased manufacturing productivity by introducing new consumers, monopolies held by guilds proved detrimental.With no competition, guilds had little incentive to innovate, and could employ shady tactics without anyone to pose questions.For instance, guilds would limit the number of artisans they employed, keeping production low and prices high.Backed by European monarchies, they were able to dominate manufacturing for centuries, however, by the 1800s, their authority had begun to erode with the rise of the cottage industry and a declining public opinion.The reform minister Anne-Robert -Jacques Turgot, for example, who held the same sentiments of many enlightened government officials, wished to abolish the guilds, believing them to be arbitrary and oppressive institutions.
This economic golden age was activated by an agricultural revolution beginning a century earlier, when new farming practices were introduced to great effect.
The increased yields reduced the need for as many farmers to tend the fields and created a landless rural proletariat, which the merchant capitalists mobilized to produce textiles, clocks, and silverware, among other household goods.
Although these peasant workers possessed little skill, their labor was cheap and abundant, and was made cost effective through the putting-out system, which had quickly become the dominant method of manufacturing.
These trends continued throughout the eighteenth century, and along with them, significant increases in manufacturing productivity.