Category Archives: Industrial Revolution

caplan on the industrial revolution

Posted on November 28, 2013 by christopher fisher

In a recent post, Economist Bryan Caplan takes on a flawed history textbook. He proposes an alternative text about the Industrial Revolution: Working conditions during the early Industrial Revolution were bad by modern standards, but a major improvement by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, History, Industrial Revolution | Leave a comment

patents did not cause the industrial revolution

Posted on May 17, 2013 by christopher fisher

From Deirdre McCloskey’s The Bourgeois Dignity (p 302-4): British patents were very expensive, a minimum of £100 (a respectable lower-middle class annual income at the time) and requiring many months of attendance on law courts in London. Therefore they were … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Industrial Revolution, Intellectual Property | Leave a comment

women during the industrial revolution

Posted on March 11, 2013 by christopher fisher

From Robert Hessen, The Effects of the Industrial Revolution on Women and Children: The factories were held responsible, by such critics, for every social problem of that age, including… the desire for luxuries… It is a damning indictment of the … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Industrial Revolution, Standard of Living | 5 Comments

Industrial Revolution and Child Labor

Posted on May 19, 2011 by christopher fisher

It is sickening, those who advocate child labor laws. Laws are filled with unintended consequences. Their very purpose is to use force to stop people from performing mutually beneficial activities. These laws, quite literally, “steal jobs away from children.” These children often starve, dig through garbage, or turn to prostitution. It makes me sick when Americans advocate ruining the lives of these precious children. Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, History, Industrial Revolution, Labor, Uncommon Sense | 3 Comments