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Title: Cotton Textiles and the Great Divergence: Lancashire, India and Shifting Competitive Advantage, 1600-1850

Author(s): Stephen N Broadberry and Bishnupriya Gupta

Publication Date: August 2005

Keyword(s): competitive advantage, cotton, India, Lancashire and unit labour costs

Programme Area(s): International Macroeconomics

Abstract: The growth of cotton textile imports into Britain from India opened up new opportunities for import substitution as the new cloths, patterns and designs became increasingly fashionable. However, high silver wages in Britain as a result of high productivity in other tradable goods and services, meant that British producers of cotton textiles could not use labour-intensive Indian production methods. The growth in British labour productivity that resulted from the search for labour-saving technological progress meant that unit labour costs became lower than in India despite the much higher wages in Britain. However, the full effects of the rise in British productivity were delayed until after the Napoleonic Wars by increasing wage and raw cotton costs before supply adjusted to the major increase in demand for inputs. On balance, the effects of British protective measures were neutral.

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Bibliographic Reference

Broadberry, S and Gupta, B. 2005. 'Cotton Textiles and the Great Divergence: Lancashire, India and Shifting Competitive Advantage, 1600-1850'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=5183