Retardation in the age of Industry
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Marczewski – commodity output per capita had in fact grown as fast as it had in England between 1815 and 1913 – data revealed no take-off – France not fallen behind – confirmed by Levy-Leboyer, Crouzet, Toutain – cf. Britain not an artifact overvalued exchange rate shown by purchasing power parities O and K.

Paradox: France had grown as fast as England without leaving a statistical trace of an industrial revolution – how could France which had not experienced traumatic transition from tradition to modernity be as economically successful as England? – France had modernized without ever leaving the pre-industrial age

Roehl – features of the French economy treated as signs of retardation – such as small farm size, high dependence local informal credit institutions – signified early passage t industrial age.  More backward like Belgium of Germany large-scale state aided industrialization – like Britain crucial transition occurred 18^th century – no growth spurt and less dislocation of labour – does he test position France Gerschenkronian taxonomy – or taxonomy itself? – more likely shows failing G. – not an economic model but impressionistic generalization reformulated taxonomy employed by 19^th century German historical economists empirical contradiction of this thoroughly discredited approach carries no logical implication

Gerschenkron: lack of economic modeling worthy of the name – do the retarded characteristics of the 19^th century French economy reflect optimal adjustments to an emerging intl. Comparative advantage – Crafts says England specializing low cost cotton manufactures + light engineering between 1780 and 1850 – trading partners specialize in something else

Other Notes in this Category

1. Introduction
2. Migration and Agricultural Markets
3. paradox of pre-Revolutionary productivity
4. Peasant Farming and Agric. Backwardness
5. Persistence of the open-fields
6. Retardation in the age of Industry
7. Structural Hypotheses
8. The Cliometrics of French Retardation

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